


Towards Fiddler's Green

by karasunotsubasa



Series: keep a weather eye on the horizon [1]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Angst, Arranged Marriage, Blood and Injury, Cecaelia Yuuri Katsuki, Cecaelias, Come Eating, Come Inflation, Consentacles, Drowning, Fantasy, Fluff, Happy Ending, Human Sex, Hurt/Comfort, Interspecies, Interspecies Romance, M/M, MerMay, Mermen Sex, Mermen smut, Merpeople, Nipple Play, Rimming, Romantic Fluff, Royalty, Smut, Tentacle Dick, Tentacle Sex, Tentacles, Underwater Sex, Wedding Rituals, Weddings, just kidding there's an actual explanation for it, magical properties of cum, vitya is Sensitive and yuuri Loves It, you'll see - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2019-06-01
Packaged: 2020-02-15 15:31:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 32
Words: 38,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18672478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karasunotsubasa/pseuds/karasunotsubasa
Summary: A new journey begins when prince Victor sets sail to meet the man his parents have promised him to.Except, prince Yuuri is no man at all. He's a mer, a cecaelia, a monster in all that Victor imagines.Sometimes, however, imagination gets away from us, and not all the monsters we imagine are as bad as we think them to be.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> so it's mermay and I never actually do anything for it but this year felt like doing SOMETHING so here is a fusion of all the things I love: magical creatures, fantasy, royalty, arranged marriages, victuuri softness and cutes, and (what will follow) creature smut ;3c  
> hope you enjoy!

 

 

They have set sail on a morning just like this, Victor remembers as he looks out into the horizon where the dark waters meet the first light of the day. The memories are still fresh under the darkness of his eyelids when he shuts his eyes against the salted breeze.

On that day his mother kissed his forehead just as the sun climbed onto the sky and hugged him for the final time, not knowing when or if she'll see him again. The warmth of her arms stayed with Victor for long after, but what stayed with Victor till this very moment is his father. He was never one for affection, all of Victor's softness was his mother's hard work, but even on his hardened face Victor could see worry: after all, his only son was leaving on a voyage that could either see him married or dead at the bottom of the very sea they were trying to conquer... or both. He bid Victor farewell then with a handshake, cool in demeanour, but even in his words hid a certain hesitation. One that Victor could feel as well the closer to their destination they sailed.

And now, now they were only a daylight away from the place where Victor's fate will be fulfilled.

Victor looks into the waves split white by the ship's hull, but before he can lose himself in the thoughts of his intended, a prince of royal blood like himself, but one from a different world than Victor's, from a different race than him, different in all but his fate, someone comes up to him from the side. The deck is empty at this early hour, so the footsteps echo among the crash of the waves.

"Are you so excited to meet him you cannot sleep?" Chris asks, leaning against the railing next to Victor. 

He hides a yawn behind his hand, and once more Victor cannot help his staring, for Chris looks too much like a human for all that he isn't. It's only in his eyes, green like the waters of the clear sea, that Victor sees his true origin: that of the mers of the southern seas, whom Chris has arrived at court to speak for. And speak he has, convincingly enough, that through his courting Victor is now to marry a mer prince.

"Excited," Victor repeats after Chris. "More like terrified."

In his months at court Chris has become a friend to Victor, not overtly close, but enough for him to be honest. Chris, on his end, has replied with the same, and he does so now as well. 

"He's a good mer," Chris tells him. "A good man. He won't harm you, I can give you my word."

"I don't think that is the basis of my fear." Victor clutches at the wooden rail until his fingers turn white from strain. Then he lets go, but he doesn't move his hands. Like this, at least, he feels somewhat grounded, even if the ship sways under his feet on uncertain waves. "Tell me about him again. What is he like?"

"He's smaller than the biggest of our fighters, but he hasn't lost to anyone before." Chris' voice brims with pride, even though he is trying to be subtle about it. "He's a cecaelia, so it is no wonder. They are a very rare, you know, and most think they are dangerous, but Yuuri is a real sweetheart once you get to know him."

"That's good to hear," Victor breathes, trying to think positive. "And his looks? How does he look? Is he able to change like you?"

"To look human?" Chris asks with a smile that oddly enough makes Victor turn away, flustered. "It's a spell that allowed me to come onto land. No mer can do so without the help of magic. So, to answer your question, no, he will not be able to look human unless he invests the powers of the deep sea."

"In other words… he will always be, ah," Victor falters for words that would not cause offence. "He will always be in his mer form, then?"

Chris, who must know his thoughts, answers with a grin. "Most likely. Are you scared of what it means?"

Victor thinks on it, like he has thought of the same thing during the long nights in his cramped cabin. He thinks of his fate, of his future, of the future of his line… An image of tentacles, long, dark, slippery, winding around him in a constricting prison of flesh and pleasure, makes him shudder against the morning chill.

It is not a shudder of fear, however, or not as full of fear as Victor would've liked, and the knowing expression on Chris' face brings a flush to Victor's cheeks.

"Tell me about his character more," Victor orders, and Chris obeys, but the little smirk does not leave his lips.

"I have not been in the prince's confidence for long, mind, you'd have better luck asking his attendant about him, but what I learned is this: your intended is very determined, very driven. Once, and it is only what I heard, the queen fell ill and only a tincture from the fin of the bull shark could bring her relief. Yuuri set out alone before anyone knew it and returned with the fin alright. He was missing a leg and was covered in scars and blood, but he did succeed. He's very impressive. You should be honoured to have him as your mate."

Silent for a moment, Victor chews on his lip. Everything he hears about his intended would indeed make one honoured to be considered for betrothal, but…

"Everything you say comes down to some sort of violence," Victor settles on. "Is he really good for nothing else but that? Tell me the truth, Chris. Is he blood-crazed? Is he cruel?"

"Not on purpose. Never that. Yuuri is kind, but… he is also a cecaelia. That cannot be helped," is Chris' reply, which doesn't soothe Victor's woes the least. 

He falls silent against the waking of the ship's crew. They stand there together until the deck fills with voices and busy hands, and even then neither speaks a word. For there are none to speak: Victor will marry the cecaelia prince, Yuuri, as his father decided. He will fulfill his duty, do as bid, and hope – desperately hope in the deepest, most secure part of his heart – that whatever Yuuri's brand of cruelty is, it will not apply to him.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will try my hardest to update this daily, but make sure to check out my [twitter](https://twitter.com/katzuyas) or [tumblr](https://katzuyas.tumblr.com/) for more details bc you might have a peak into more chapters if you're willing //winkwonk


	2. Chapter 2

 

 

Before they even drop the anchor at a fair distance from the island, Victor feels his skin crawl. Their ship has been surrounded by a mer escort for half the day already, and among their chirping and splashing it's been hard to remain calm. It's meant for their protection, Chris explained when the men first raised their voices in fright, but despite the goodwill of the merfolk, Victor himself cannot help the feeling of being watched. Caged. Captured. It feels like his life is over, and the rest of it will be spent like so: under guard, among faces that peer at him curiously as if he is a painting that needs explanation.

It might be silly of him, since his men stare at the merfolk the same way, and Victor is a prince. He should be used to the eyes following his every move. And more, he is the prince set to wed their prince. The curiosity is understandable, but under the weight of it Victor not for the first time feels his doubt.

Still, what has been settled will come to pass.

He steps out of the dinghy onto warm golden sands, but his feet clad in the new leather boots are cold. His hands are too, so Victor tucks them into the pockets of his outer robe, woven of blue and silver threads to match his colouring and flatter his assets. The circlet of white crystals and lapis lazuli that sits on his hair truly sets him apart from everyone else, but it's the staring that makes Victor painfully aware of his position. 

The mers do not follow them onto land, but disappear back into the waters with only their colourful tails waving in goodbye. Their freedom… Victor is envious of it. For a single moment he allows himself to stare longingly at the ocean before him, at how tiny his ship looks in the distance. If only he wasn't born a prince, he would not have to marry a monster. 

But alas, he is a prince, and his intended is one as well, so despite his monstrous physique, Victor still holds out hope that his upbringing will at least be something they will have in common.

"This way," Chris says as he guides them deeper into the island.

They walk through the treeline, past the forest that spreads over the entire coast. The air smells of warmth and greenery, filling their lungs with happiness. To Victor it tastes bittersweet, no matter how hard he tries to enjoy it. After all, this could be his last taste of freedom, however limited.

The island is small enough that it only takes them an hour or so to reach its centre, where a big lake – or what seems to be a lake, but in fact is an eye of the ocean itself – sits among an oasis of purple wisterias, which hang their heavy heads towards the crystal waters. 

It's beautiful, and they can all see it.

"Look," Chris tells Victor, and points towards the lake. The surface bubbles, trembles, and soon merfolk pop head after head through the water to blink at him in wonder. "They have come. Now we must only wait for the royal family."

"When will they come?" Victor asks, tense in the shoulders. 

The sun is setting in oranges and pinks that remind Victor of the burning fires in his mother's chambers. His heart squeezes with longing. Will he ever find another place he might feel so strongly for? Or will he wed and mate with his intended, and then be sent back home, since no human could breathe where the mer lived? Or will he be made to stay here and wait at his lawfully wedded husband's every beck and call?

"The ceremony is to be held under the stars, so we might expect them at first dark, most likely," Chris replies to Victor's previous question, unaware of the many others Victor's mind has spun.

"Then we wait?" Victor asks, and at Chris' nod that's what they do.

The men build a fire, prepare the food, and before the sun is fully gone, they seem to almost forget where they are: drinking and singing and laughing to their hearts' content. 

Victor, however, can hardly stomach anything. He does not wish to ruin anyone's mood by brooding, though, so he sneaks away from the happy camp and walks around the lake to where the wisteria would hide him from prying eyes and brush his sorrows away with gentle touch to his weary cheeks.

Everything smells sweet here, fresh, new. It is not a bad scent to begin a new life in. Victor takes a deep breath and closes his eyes where he stands among the wisteria. The soft sea breeze caresses his hair almost like his mother used to do when he was still a boy. Against all bad that can happen so soon, Victor smiles. Maybe as long as he has his memories, those of happy times and those of joy, he will be able to handle whatever fate sends his way. Even if it is a monster for a husband.

The sudden splash of water nearby startles him enough to send his heart racing. With bated breath, Victor turns his wide eyes towards the lake, and screams – for there, in the dark depths, dark eyes stare back at him.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> //winkwonk


	3. Chapter 3

 

 

The scream carries over the water, yet before Victor knows it, the eyes are gone and the only proof that they weren't a figment of his imagination are the ripples on the flat surface of the lake. Within seconds, Victor is surrounded by his men, all are ready to fight, their weapons drawn and gleaming in the firelight coming from the other shore. 

There is no one to fight, though. 

Victor's heart is still aflutter between his ribs, which suddenly fit too tight in his chest. He is escorted safely back to the camp and sat before a cheerful fire, but the impression of eyes lingering on him does not wane. He's sure… These eyes… 

A shudder runs down his back before he finishes the thought, and he trembles with it. 

"Here, drink this," Chris says, appearing out of nowhere with a cup, which he thrusts into Victor's hand.

"What is it?" 

The liquid is pale silver, as if moonlight itself melted into his cup. But that cannot be, no matter how curious the comparison. 

"Something for the nerves," Chris replies, which in no way explains things. "It's safe and it'll work if you believe."

Willing to try anything for only a moment of peace, Victor brings the cup to his lips. The drink is cool and sweet as it goes down his throat. From where it sits in his belly it only takes a second for it to begin its work – numbing coolness spreads through Victor's limbs and, once it reaches his heart, it soothes him instantly.

Victor sighs.

"Better?" Chris asks, and Victor nods. "What did you see out there? I haven't heard you scream like that in all the time we've known each other."

"Dark eyes, in the water," Victor tells him, but thankfully whatever the drink he just downed was, it keeps him from renewing his panic. "It could've been another mer, but it was so sudden it scared me."

Chris nods. "Most likely it was a mer arrived for the ceremony. Nothing to fear there, I promise. But don't think about it too hard now. It's almost time."

And he is right. 

The sun has fully set and only a lingering warmth of the day remained as the night took over the sky. There are no stars in sight as of yet, not when Victor peers up, but it is dark enough for the ceremony to start. The only thing they now need is for the other party to arrive.

It's as Victor thinks that, the waters of the lake rumble. Mers appear from the dark depths one after another, carrying golden lights with them. The small glowing orbs sit in each of their palms as they light up the night almost as bright as if it was first daylight. Only when his men part before him and Victor is guided by Chris to step closer, does he notice the circle the merfolk formed. 

And in that circle, three mers rise from the golden waters: the royal family has arrived. Whispers among the men begin when Victor offers a deep bow in respect of his future family. He would rather risk overt politeness than offending them by any chance, so he allows the whispers to continue while he himself obeys propriety.

He is surprised when Chris, who was supposed to guide him until the very end, leaves his side and enters the waters. With every step he takes, his features change. He strips his clothes as he goes, and Victor notes the scales that gently begin to climb up his back, sides, his arms. On his neck five slices of gills open up on both sides, and they flutter with every breath he takes. 

Only when he's chest deep in the lake, does he turn back with a splash of a brilliant green tail. His grin is wide, familiar, but now also full of sharp, sharp teeth. 

"Come, Your Highness. It is time to introduce you to your intended."

He offers Victor a hand, which Victor takes after a moment's hesitation. He considers stripping, but when so many eyes trail after his every move, he already feels naked enough. Even still, water sneaks into his boots when he first steps into the lake, and his clothes soon are wet and pulling on him, pulling him down, down, down– 

Victor's foot slips on the edge of the lake bed and then, then it hits nothing. It's only thanks to Chris' hand gripping him hard and the other one on his back that Victor doesn't fall under, but his heart still beats double in his chest from the thrill of it.

"Wait here," Chris says, steadying him. "There is a chasm under here leading directly into the ocean. He will come to take you now."

His words might be meant to reassure him, but all they do is make Victor painfully aware of how wet he is, how cold his hands are, how absolutely terrified he is of what is to come. Even the calming draught that Chris has given him cannot help against this overwhelming feeling of losing himself to the abyss that opens before him like the chasm has opened under his feet: unexpectedly, hungrily, definitively.

Before it can swallow him, though, the water moves. It's more of a sensation against his skin than a visible movement on the golden surface, but it makes Victor tremble like a young leaf in the wind. And then... 

Then he bites his lip to withhold a scream when something wraps around his calf. 

Chris still holds his hand, but when Victor clutches it harder in terror, he squeezes back once and lets him go. Victor would like to grasp at him just to keep himself steady in the water, but before he can more of these rope-like things slides over his legs and higher, holding him, steadying him in the waters. It doesn't take Victor long to guess what they must be – tentacles, the slippery legs of his intended.

_He's here._

Victor shudders in the golden waters. For a brief second he wonders if this is how the mating will be like, here, in front of all these people and merfolk, but before shame can squeeze his eyes shut, Victor sees a dark shape in the depths below him. It grows bigger, larger, closer, but Victor cannot move because the tentacles hold him still and secure.

A dark head breaks the water right before him and all of Victor's breath leaves his lungs as the same eyes that sent fear through every bone in his body stare at him from much, much closer. And this time, there is no escape.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HE'S HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	4. Chapter 4

 

 

There is little that Victor's mind can focus on in that moment, except the tight squeeze of the tentacles around him, the dark eyes that glow with the reflection of the golden waters they both drift in, and the face – the beautiful, handsome, gorgeous face of the mer prince Yuuri.

He's dripping with golden droplets, but even if he wasn't, Victor would hardly be able to tear his gaze away. He's stunning, is his first thought, and then his mind freezes as he catches the sight of a golden tear dropping from the prince's eyelashes down his sweet cheek and into the corner of his mouth, where a purple tongue licks it impatiently away.

Victor's mouth parts on a breath and he wishes to speak, say something in greeting, but words seem to have lost all meaning once he looks back up and finds the gaze of the dark eyes that previously terrified him. 

Now, they don't. 

Now, as Victor peers into them closely, they seem just as scared, just as terrified, and just as awed as he himself feels. They are a mirror of his own soul, and Victor is oddly comforted by it.

He allows himself to look over the body of the man he's about to wed: at the human-like face, neck, chest, arms, and lower, at where the body turns inhuman and ink-black, where the tentacles are coiled around Victor's waist and legs as if to own him. In a bold gesture, Victor lifts one hand out of the water and, while it still weeps golden tears, he presses his palm to where a heart beats in every human's chest. He's looking for it without any idea if he'll find it, but he does. 

The little flutter under his skin brings a smile to his face. It's a small smile, but the hope it carries is larger than anything Victor could've expected. After all, he expected a monster. 

The mer prince before him seems anything but that.

The chirp that falls from between prince Yuuri's lips startles him. The pretty head tilts to the side as if the prince doesn't understand Victor's reaction or the purpose of his hand resting where it does. In a corner of his eye, Victor sees Chris shift as if to translate, but Victor shakes his head – he will not rely on others if he wishes to speak with his husband-to-be.

Instead, he touches prince Yuuri's elbow gently and pulls his hand out of the water. Then, he presses his palm to his own heart, which trembles underneath it with all his surprise. 

"It's an honour to meet you," Victor says, not knowing if Yuuri will understand.

But he must, because he drifts closer and his tentacles tighten around Victor in a way that says it all. He chirps something again, something that must be a reply, because his fingers – with those ink-black sharp nails – bury in the rich material of Victor's robes. 

As if they understood each other, prince Yuuri chirps again, and then once more, but before Victor can reply that he doesn't know what he wishes of him, the mer prince shows him. He brings his free hand up to run through Victor's hair and, even though it leaves it damp, when he pulls Victor's head forward to rest against his own, Victor cannot help but be endeared by the gesture.

It's sweet. Didn't Chris mention prince Yuuri to be an absolute sweetheart? Victor thinks back to it, yet cannot recall, since he cannot focus on anything else but the little breaths he feels on his lips. 

The prince chirps again, a sound much similar to birds but not quite. It's strange, this language, but also very beautiful. As beautiful as the mer himself, and Victor finds himself charmed despite the fear he's felt before. 

They peer into each other's eyes in the silence of the waters for a long time. From this close Victor takes note of the colour of prince Yuuri's eyes for the first time. He thought of them as dark before. He wasn't wrong. They are dark now as well, but in their golden depths he can see their true hue: a brilliant brown of the finest rum. As if to tell him he's right, the prince chirps once more and this time Victor giggles like a drunkard. 

It might be nerves, it might be his comparison, but suddenly Victor remembers what they are here for. He remembers the merfolk gathered in the lake, his men who watch every move they make. A flush touches his cheeks, but his embarrassment is forgotten in a second when he sees the change in prince Yuuri's skin.

Slowly, as if to give him enough time to watch, the human skin that Victor can see on his chest, arms, shoulders, neck, and face change colours. From pale to golden, to darker still, until all Victor can see is the shaded purple of wisteria – as beautiful as the fat branches that hang over their heads. 

With his breath stuck in his throat, Victor moves his hand, trails his fingers over the dip between prince Yuuri's collarbones, and higher, across his throat to the jaw that blossoms delightful pink at his first touch. 

"You're stunning," Victor gives voice to his thoughts in a breathless whisper, while his fingers climb up to rest against the pink cheek. "How is this possible?"

The prince shakes his head, intense look in his eyes. Victor doesn't understand, but neither is he understood, and they both seem frustrated at that. In a fit of brilliance, Victor takes back his hand and touches the fingers briefly to his lips, before he presses them to the deeply purple lips of the mer prince. 

They are soft, so soft that Victor wishes he had the courage to press his lips directly there, but…

Red blossoms across the pink face of prince Yuuri, and this Victor knows. He chuckles, endeared, and much like the prince did before, he brings their foreheads together. 

They might not know the language, they might not know each other, but somehow, looking into the undeniably flushed face of the prince Yuuri, Victor knows that things will be well. Somehow, they must.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I call this chapter 'an ode to yuuri' but tbh every chapter should be called that bc vitya is a smitten fool and I love writing him like that uwu
> 
> next time: WE FINALLY GET THE WEDDING AHHHHH!!!!!!


	5. Chapter 5

 

 

They could've stayed in the golden waters until daybreak, Victor is sure of that. He could look into prince Yuuri's eyes until his last day and still find something new and beautiful about them on every single one of those days. 

And he might. 

The thought of the ceremony that they have gathered here for sends a thrill of excitement down his spine for the first time since he's heard the news of his betrothal. The prince who is close enough to feel Victor's rushed breath on his lips, peers up into his eyes. A smile blooms on his face, tiny and close-lipped, as if he was afraid of showing his teeth to him and scaring him away. 

At this point, though, Victor doubts he could be scared. The mer prince has proven kind and gentle thus far, and so Victor trusts in the feeling that awakens in his heart: sweet, and trilling a song of a language he has yet to know – hope.

It is hard to tear his attention away from his intended, but a sound of many throats rising in a song is successful enough. Victor looks about them, where the mers sway and sing, still in a perfect circle. It's beautiful, both the singing and the dancing, but the play of light in the ripples that start on the lake is even more so. And once Victor turns back to his intended, he is the most beautiful of them all.

"Offer him your hand like so," Chris has told him when Victor asked about the ceremony on their long voyage here. Chris' hand was turned wrist up, palm offered in surrender. "The mistress of the stars will come and let your veins breathe for a moment. She will only take what is needed for the binding ritual, don't fear."

And so Victor doesn't when a mer comes to their side with a bowl and a shell-gilded knife, which she then presses against his wrist. The cut stings, so Victor bites his lip, but he doesn't say a word when his crimson blood wells from the wound and begins to trickle into the bowl. It takes only a second, maybe two, yet she allows his wrist to bleed while she moves to take blood from the arm the mer prince offers as well. 

The blood that drips into the bowl to mix with his own is thicker than what stains the waters around Victor. It's darker, too. Among all the lights playing around them, it almost seems black. Maybe it is, Victor wouldn't know. Yet no matter what colour it is supposed to be, it does nothing to change the colour of the liquid inside the bowl. 

There, golden, glowing, is a potion that will make their hearts beat as one with their life's blood to make it so.

The mistress of the stars hands the knife over to a different mer before she takes the bowl into both hands. The singing grows louder as her face turns towards the dark sky. For the first time since he saw prince Yuuri, Victor peers up as well. White dots of the stars wink down at him in a cheerful dance. The mistress must see something different in them, because her voice rises over the rest and, like one, the merfolk fall silent.

After the singing and dancing, the silence feels almost eerie. The hair on the back of Victor's neck rises and his blood seeps from the wound faster, but he isn't scared. Not exactly. He feels… charged. As if a bolt of lightning crashed into the ground right next to him. It hasn't, of course not, for the skies are clear and the air smells only of the sweetness of wisteria. Yet the trembles that crawl across his skin are the very same.

He couldn't know his thoughts, prince Yuuri that is, but his mer instinct must be something else, since he swims a bit closer and brushes their shoulders together. Victor catches his dark eyes and offers him a smile in gratitude. He cannot put it in words and even if he had, he wouldn't be understood. Still, he is thankful for the kindness, and the mer prince must see it, for his own lips quirk in a tiny, precious answer.

_I can live with this_ , Victor thinks to himself while the mistress of the stars chants. _I can be happy with this_ , he tells himself and doesn't even need to lie to believe it.

The chanting stops on a long note that echoes through the water in ripples. Prince Yuuri moves first to take the bowl from the mistress' hands. He dips his fingers into the golden liquid and lifts them to paint across Victor's face: two stripes on each cheek, a dot on the chin, a line down the bridge of his nose, and a wave, or what feels like one, on his forehead. And then, the final one, he paints Victor's bottom lip with a swipe of his thumb. 

He holds the bowl between them, offers it to Victor. Chris has explained it to him as well, so Victor knows it's his turn now. He takes the bowl and repeats what the mer prince has done: stripes on his cheeks, dot on the chin, line down the nose, and a wave on his forehead. On his lips, however, he paints the top one – his sign of surrender to the will of his mate.

Once done, he returns the bowl to the mistress of the stars, who begins to sing the moment she takes it from his hands. To the sound of it, they join foreheads together as ceremony demands. The golden liquid is cold as the mistress pours it over their heads, both in equal measure, both bound together in the place they are joined. 

Victor closes his eyes against it. When he opens them again, prince Yuuri's eyelashes are bathed golden. He's glowing, all of him is, and he's more beautiful than any wonders of the world Victor has seen in his parents' palace. 

Absently, Victor hears the mistress of the stars cease her singing, but he cannot pay attention to it. All that matters to him now is the mer before him – his husband. His beautiful husband, who tilts his face up and kisses him on the lips, smearing the paint they are wearing into one beautiful mess. Victor kisses him back, even though it's only lips against lips. His heart flutters inside his chest and he thinks briefly of the open wound on his wrist, but the sweet chirp that prince Yuuri breathes against him distracts him from that successfully.

It's only when they part for good, star-eyed and golden, that he notes the singing which has risen all around them. Within seconds dancing joins it as well, and the water ripples enough to splash against their faces. It doesn't wash away the golden paint, and Victor is pleased to see the marks he left on his husband as a proof of his belonging. 

He looks down to the more lasting mark, the cut in the wrist, but on prince Yuuri's wrist it is already closed and clean, with only a single golden line in its place, as if threaded through with gold. He checks his own wrist, searching for an open wound, yet there is none to find. There, on his wrist, sits a mark just like the prince's: beautiful, golden, clean. And it binds Victor's life to his husband's like it binds his to Victor's.

Lifting his eyes to the dark ones again, Victor cannot help but reach out to see if he can find with him what he has so desperately been looking for all his life. And when the mer prince meets his hand halfway, pulls him close and rests his other hand against Victor's heart like Victor has taught him, he knows he will.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is honestly my fav thing I wrote in a long while //sighs in the soft floofy feels


	6. Chapter 6

 

 

The ceremony doesn't last longer than that. The merfolk sing for them once more, dance around them in a circle, and then leave one by one, taking the light with them. The waters instantly become dark without the glow of their presence. 

It is hard to see who else waits by the shore, but Victor feels even the smallest movement of the water as if on his skin, which should not be possible through his clothes, yet somehow is. So when the royal family swim close, Victor hardly sees anything, but he feels them, and offers a bow. The tentacles around him tighten so as not to allow him to fully slip under. Victor offers his husband a grateful smile, which he hopes is just as welcome as the help is to him. 

He would've liked to watch for it longer, but his attention is stolen by the mer who swims towards him.

It's a female, that much Victor can see in the dark. Her face is rounded, and orange and brown scales shimmer on the sides of her cheeks in the faint light of the campfire. Her ears are pointed where they peak from beneath her chin-long hair and they seem as sharp as her teeth, which show when she smiles. 

The sight should terrify him, but it doesn't. Not after Victor realizes that her face looks too similar to prince Yuuri's that she could be no one else but his mother, the queen.

She chirps something to him, touching his cheek with a wet hand. Victor can't understand her, but follows the pull when she guides his head down. Their foreheads touch, much like his and the prince's before. He had a feeling about this before, but now Victor realizes that this must mean something special to merfolk. Maybe it's a greeting, maybe a gesture of acceptance, maybe something else, but to Victor it's all the same – it's a sweet thing that settles his heart at ease. 

The queen chirps more at him, but in the end she pats his cheek fondly as if aware that he cannot speak a word of mermish. Victor smiles at her anyway, brilliant and bright. She nods once, and moves back to allow the other mer to approach. 

It's prince Yuuri's father this time, Victor guesses by the dark colouring of this mer. He does not resemble his son much, but the dark hair and eyes that look kindly on him are too similar to miss.

The mer king brings their foreheads together in the same gesture, but this time when he chirps at Victor the words he cannot understand, Victor has a vow of his own to make. 

"I promise to be a good husband to your son," he says, even though the mers most likely understand as much of human speech as he does of theirs. "I promise to never hurt him, if I can help it."

And the king must have felt the truth in him, maybe he has seen the honesty in his eyes, felt it in his breath, because he nods as if to say "I entrust him to you." Touched, Victor swallows through a tightened throat and nods his promise once more. 

There is only one more mer left, and she swims towards him when the king leaves to stand by his mate. She must be the sister Victor has heard of from Chris. 

"She's a tough one, princess Mari," Chris has told him then, rubbing at his jaw as if sheepish. "Her brother is a cecaelia, but I wouldn't be surprised if some of her heart leaned that way as well. Their grandfather was one, so it isn't all that surprising. If I had to compare them, I'd say Yuuri is the one with the body, but hers is the spirit of a trueborn cecaelia. Be vigilant with her." 

So when she glares at Victor with eyes of copper, Victor shudders under their weight. He might have felt more confident on land, but here in the water, held suspended only by his husbands tentacles, Victor feels as defenseless as a child. 

Still, he lifts his chin up and looks directly into princess Mari's eyes.

She doesn't speak to him. Instead, she touches her throat, then her belly, and then she shows her teeth in what might be a grin, but may also be a threat. 

Before Victor can even divine what all this means, his husband moves first. Tentacles coil in the waters and Victor is jostled slightly when those that hold him twitch uncontrollably. He turns his eyes towards the mer prince, but in the dark all he can see is the slim tentacle that covers his face in a way that shows his embarrassment. As Victor watches, prince Yuuri chirps something to his sister, who chirps back, and then cackles with unabashed glee.

Unable to tell what the two are talking about, Victor looks from one to the other, until the princess swims closer and touches him directly. Her hand rests on his belly underwater and presses in, while her sharp, sharp teeth gleam in the firelight. She chirps to him again, and in her eyes, bright and teasing, Victor finally sees the meaning.

And he flushes just like his husband did, because what princess Mari offers is a blessing for their future offspring, which so clearly will be Victor's to bear and to raise.

Another tentacle wraps around his waist as if to protect him, and the hand withdraws when the mer princess swims back with another laugh. Victor chances a glance at his husband, but prince Yuuri's flushed face is turned away from him. He's closer than before, though, so Victor doesn't feel hurt by it. In fact... In fact, he's partly amused by it.

Who knew merfolk could be as easily embarrassed as humans?

They stand together as the queen chirps one more time and, together as well, they watch as the three mers leave into the ocean depths with a splash of their dark tails. 

Once they are gone, Victor realizes it's time. 

They are alone, except for the men gathered on the shore.

The thought of doing what usually follows any wedding ceremony in front of all these people makes Victor shudder. He doesn't allow it to overwhelm him, though. Instead, he touches a daring hand to one of the tentacles wrapped around him and, when his husband looks to him, Victor points towards the shore.

It's enough to make the mer prince understand what he wants. He is carefully moved through the water until he can brace his feet against the muddy ground. Gently, the many legs that have been supporting him withdraw. Now that he is left without them, for the first time since they saw each other Victor feels cold. 

"Bring us blankets," he orders to the mass of men waiting for his direction. "And prepare to move to the beach."

The men follow begrudgingly. Victor sees the curious glances they keep throwing at the dark waters where the mer prince stirs. Once a servant boy returns with the blankets, Victor finally gathers all his courage to do what any prince in his place should, and he does so without much hesitation.

He bends down low and offers his husband a hand to pull him out of the water into a new world, just like he will be taken to at the break of first light. And when prince Yuuri takes it, Victor can only hope that whatever comes next, it will be gentle on them both.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> they are just too sweet ahhhh //melts in all their love  
> ❤️❤️❤️


	7. Chapter 7

 

 

The moment prince Yuuri fully emerges from the water, his tentacles still. They draw in together and form legs, _human_ legs, right before Victor's eyes. It's magic, he knows. But to think that the mer prince would pay whatever the price for them was makes Victor's heart tremble with feeling.

Prince Yuuri, who is unused to walking, stumbles on his first steps, but before he can harshly meet the ground Victor is there to gather him in his arms. 

"I have you now," he tells him, holding him close. "I won't let you fall, I promise." And then he turns to the servant boy, who lingers a few steps away as if scared to come closer. "Give me a blanket and put the rest in my tent. You can go to the beach after, we won't need more help."

The boy does as instructed and disappears between the trees while Victor is drapes the blanket around the mer prince's shoulders. He doesn't seem to be cold, but Victor does it anyway. And then, once he has his husband safely wrapped, he picks him up in his arms despite the surprised squawk that comes from him. He weighs little in Victor's arms, and so Victor carries him towards the tent, smiling at his embarrassed crooning. 

Inside, he sets him on the bedding made of silken sheets and pillows filled with the softest of feathers. 

Chris has explained this next part to him beforehand, too. This night they will spend together, here among the humans, with the mer prince in his human form. They will bond here as humans do to fulfill the part of marriage vows that humans make to each other. 

And then, once the first light of day touches the horizon, they will return to the ocean together to make the mer vows hold as well. 

"How will I be able to breathe there?" Victor has asked then, scared of the unknown. "Wouldn't that be impossible?"

"We have magic," Chris has told him then, almost casual in it. "Believe, and nothing will ever be impossible."

Until now, none of what he's said failed, so Victor chooses to believe in his words on this subject as well, and believe in the impossible made possible for now and for the brightness of his future.

The mer prince sits on the bed, looking around the tent as if he's never seen anything like it. And he hasn't, most likely. He might feel lost in all the strange things around him, which they must seem to him, even though to Victor they are naught but boring. 

Victor kneels before him, still clad in his wet robes, and gently reaches out to takes his hands into his. 

"I know you most likely don't understand me, but I wish to say that I want us to be happy," Victor says, hoping that at least the sentiment of his words will reach his husband. "I want us to love each other in time. To cherish each other. To be truly wed, not only for the appearances' sake." 

Prince Yuuri cocks his head curiously, now human, but no less beautiful for it. His cheeks are sweet, his lips full, and both still wearing the smears of golden paint that match those on Victor. As Victor speaks, the prince's brown eyes follow the shape of Victor's mouth as if enchanted, and Victor's heart trembles in his chest at the sight of him – so soft, so eager, so open towards him.

"I wish we could understand each other…" Victor whispers, but there is no use. 

Instead of wallowing in thoughts of what could be, but isn't, Victor kisses the hands he's holding, once to each hand. 

And then he steels his will. It is time.

He stands up and strips out of his clothes piece by wet piece. The mer prince watches him keenly. Even though Victor has never been shy about his naked body, under his eyes he begins to flush. By the time he returns to stand before his husband, Victor's cheeks, neck and even part of his chest are blossomed pink.

On wobbly feet, prince Yuuri stands to meet him. The blanket that was covering him slips from his shoulders, and then they stand before each other naked, bare as the nature made them, with only the golden paint of their wedding's promise to mark them.

Like he has done before in the lake, Victor takes the mer prince's hand and rests it against his fluttering heart. Brown eyes peer up at him, caged within a face of beauty and sweetness, and Victor cannot withhold his admiration from his husband any longer. Gently, he lifts prince Yuuri's face, and kisses his gold-smeared lips. He expects to feel his sharp teeth when he deepens the kiss and pushes past the lush lips, but the mer prince is human now. His body in its entirety is human and so are his teeth – small and blunt, and tickling Victor's tongue as he slips it into the warmth of his mouth. 

And when the other tongue learns by his example and stirs against his own, Victor makes a noise of approval in his throat. That, that is the end for him. 

He pushes his husband back, lays him on the soft bed, and climbs over him to once again claim his lips. The kissing must be something new for the mer prince, because it takes him a moment to return the tender caresses of Victor's tongue in full, but Victor is patient with this. He leaves tender kisses on the full lips, kisses around the prince's mouth, his jaw, and then again encourages his tongue to play along. 

Victor's hands caress his husband's human body in the meanwhile, and every time they slip down the thick thighs, to the knees, to the calves, to the ankles, Victor cannot help but wonder how different this would be with eight slippery tentacles. Would it feel disgusting? Or would it be even more incredible than this? 

_When first light comes_ , he tells himself, running his hands back to the small waist, where the skin is roughened by long line of scars; _when the first light comes, he'll know_.

Until then, though…

Victor allows one hand to slide over the soft belly and down, to the place between his husband's legs, where his human cock rests against his thigh. He takes it in hand and the little noise from the mer prince makes him look up. Prince Yuuri has his face covered by his hands, but his mouth is parted, and even beneath all of that, Victor can see the red of his skin.

"Do you like this?" Victor asks, voice pleased. "Should I do more?"

The mer prince doesn't reply, but emboldened by his obvious flush, Victor shifts down his body. He grabs the bottle of oil on his way, and before he begins what he intends, he dribbles some on his fingers. Once done, he wastes no time in taking the beautiful cock into his mouth and sucking on it.

The cry that spills from prince Yuuri's lip is not human. Victor is not surprised, though. This must be his first time doing something like this, if Victor's imagination is correct. After all, he cannot imagine merfolk sucking cock underwater.

With even more enthusiasm, so as to make this a memorable thing for his husband, Victor takes as much of the cock into his mouth as he can fit. He slurps on it, sucks, and even when the slim hips rise from the sheets, he keeps it warm, wet and tight inside his mouth. The cock hardens on his tongue within a few minutes or less, which Victor cannot help but be impressed by. 

Before the pleasure truly renders them both unable to think, Victor brings his oiled hand between the clumsy, parted legs. He finds the spot he's looking for with ease: small, soft, twitching. Never used before, for it was made just for this, for today, just for Victor to claim. 

He pushes a finger inside the puckered hole, knowing what will come and lifting his neck upwards. 

And it comes, yes. The mer prince thrusts his hips up, as if to escape the finger, or to chase after the warmth of Victor's mouth. 

It does not matter which, however, because the moment Victor begins to move his finger in and out, prince Yuuri stills. He is so still that Victor releases his cock and peers up at him to see if he is well, but what he sees there makes his own cock throb hard.

The mer prince is looking at him with wild, lust-crazed eyes, while drool drips down his chin. His face is red, beautiful for it too, and his mouth is parted on sounds that are deeper and huskier than the chirps Victor has heard before. Experimentally, Victor slides another finger inside him even though it's a tight fit and he is rewarded for it with another noise that sends a thrill down his spine.

"Fuck," Victor pants, lustful. "No one told me you were this gorgeous."

He returns to the now leaking cock, laps at it, and works his hand until his two fingers sink into the mer prince with ease. He adds a third then, and curls them, twists them, looks for the spot he knows is there – and when he finds it, he grins against the cock pressed to his cheek, for prince Yuuri's thighs tremble, and his mouth sings sounds so pretty that Victor's own arousal heightens enough to make his head spin.

He takes a little more time then, stretches the tight hole until he can peer inside and see the pink flesh made just for his use, just for this moment. And then, once he can no longer stand to only watch, he oils his cock, and sets it against the trembling hole.

He looks directly into the brown eyes of his husband's, which are now as dark as the night sky they were wed under, and slowly, gently, he pushes in.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just saying but if you want to ever read more, make sure to check out my [twitter](https://twitter.com/katzuyas) //winkwonk


	8. Chapter 8

 

 

Victor's cock throbs as he pushes inside the tight, warm body of his husband. The whine that splits the air comes from the lips of the mer prince, but Victor drowns it soon with his own moan as he pushes so deep inside that his balls brush against the full mounds of his husband's pert ass.

"God," Victor pants, half delirious with pleasure. "I don't know what I did to deserve this, but I thank the morning stars for this moment, and you..."

He leans forward to support himself on one hand, and thus brings his face closer to prince Yuuri's. It surprises him when the mer prince lifts his hand and wraps it around Victor's neck to pull himself up and touch their foreheads together. It's a gesture much like the one they have repeated so often in the lake. Victor has no doubts that it's an intimate thing, sweet, tender, and it sets his heart ablaze with emotion every single time. 

It would be such now as well, if not for the one leg prince Yuuri wraps around Victor's hips and uses to grind into him as if to say "Move, lover. More." 

Victor, already weak against the heat of his body, cannot do anything else but obey.

He's fucked people before. Many others, to be fair. But none of them, not even one, felt this intoxicating. As if he was drunk on the best of wines, Victor drives himself deeper into the madness called passion. The sweet sounds that leave prince Yuuri's lips only urge him on, and so Victor fucks him, fucks into him, with wild abandon of a man who is about to reach heaven in both body and soul.

He grabs the full thigh that rests against his hip and thrusts deeper into the soft hole that sucks him in as if greedy for more, harder, faster. Victor groans as he slams his hips hard enough into his husband that the entire bed jostles with every thrust. The chirping moans fill the silence of the night and urge him on, and before Victor knows it, he feels his balls tighten and his body shudder. 

He thrusts in deep, and moans when he comes, filling his husband with his warm cum. 

It's only when his vision and breath return to him after that he realizes he was the only one to come. The heavy, leaking cock of the mer prince rests against his belly, while prince Yuuri pants with harsh breaths – flushed, dazed, stunning. He's biting on one of his fingers as if to muffle his own lewd sounds, but he must have no idea how sensual and irresistible he looks like that, surely.

Victor feels shaken to the core.

Wishing to give his husband as much pleasure as he receives from him at every turn, Victor takes the hard cock in hand and strokes it. At the same time, he pulls his cock out and replaces it with his fingers, which slip inside with ease, guided by the stretch and cum left as if to mark his territory. 

It's an odd sensation, fucking his fingers into his cum, but the sweet noises prince Yuuri makes when the squirting, slurping sounds fill the air are more than worth it. With both hands at once, Victor brings the mer prince towards his release. His eyes never leave the flushed face, and he drinks in every expression of ecstasy he's gifted with like a man starved eyes food. 

Once the tremors of the body he played like a fiddle cease, Victor wipes his hands on the sheets, but leaves the mess between his husband's legs untouched. With slow, careful hands, Victor turns him on his belly. He pulls one pillow from the pile at the head of the bed and eases it under prince Yuuri's hips. The dark head turns over the pale shoulder to peer at him curiously, so Victor smiles. He presses a little kiss between the tense shoulder blades and then, with more kisses, he follows the line of the spine to where it curves under his loving lips. 

And then lower, still, until he can nose between the perfect globes of prince Yuuri's ass.

He wastes no time in licking up a long stripe from the leaking hole to where the spine ends. His hands push the plump mounds to the sides to expose the mess he's made of his husband's ass and Victor's heart squeezes in delight. 

"You look so delicious," he praises, diving back down and sucking on the hole that still trembles from how hard he's fucked it. Victor moans at the same time as his husband cries out in surprised pleasure. "You're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

Victor licks deep into the sweetness and his own bitter cum melts into bliss on his tongue. Everything is soft here, so tender that Victor feels like he might be too rough with all this. Maybe he should stop, let prince Yuuri rest, but the more he fucks him with his tongue, the more he feels his own cock stiffen at the mewling sounds that leave his husband's lips.

It's impossible to hold back.

Victor cleans the mer prince out of his cum as best as he can. He sucks on the puckered hole one more time, before he sits up and wipes his mouth. 

Brilliant brown eyes peer at him from a flushed face when Victor caresses the slick hole with his thumb. He slips it inside, pulls on it to stretch it and groans, unable to keep it down.

"I want to fuck you again," Victor says, knowing he won't be understood. "Can I?"

The strangest thing happens then, because for all Victor knows, the mer prince shouldn't understand him, but the look in his eyes is so vibrant, so clear despite the desire that clouds it, that Victor cannot help the impression that he must–

The chirp that falls from prince Yuuri's lips is darker, silkier than any before. It crawls down Victor's spine in an avalanche of shivers that gather in his cock and throb.

"Fuck," Victor breathes. "Fuck, I'm such a lucky man..."

He doesn't wait a second longer to form any thoughts after that. He mounts his husband from behind, sinks into the mess of his own cum, spit, and oil, and loves every second of it. And prince Yuuri's moans tell him clearly – he isn't alone in that.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> vitya just can't help himself you know ;3c


	9. Chapter 9

 

 

Victor fucks him again. And then one more time. They sleep for a while afterwards, or maybe it's just Victor who succumbs to the exhaustion that filling his husband with cum three times caused to his own heart and body. Yet even as he slips into sleep, Victor does so with a smile on his face. He's spent, yes, but he's also happier than he's been in days, and it's all because his husband has turned out to be a sweet, sweet mer instead of a cruel monster Victor has been suffering nightmares about for months.

This time he sleeps soundly and as he awakens just before the first light of day touches the horizon, he is rested and ready for more. The mer prince is awake when Victor turns towards him, watching him with curious eyes. 

He looks so beautiful simply resting there that Victor leans forward and presses their foreheads together in what he believes to be a greeting per mer custom, and then kisses the still human lips with as much tenderness as there is in his heart. The sweet chirp that answers him is a blessed music to Victor's ears even before he realizes that he'll listen to it till the day he dies. And once he does, his smile melts into giggles, as if to match the state of his heart.

"Good morning, love," Victor chirps back. The endearment falls off his tongue like the most natural thing in the world and Victor loves it, too. "Have you slept any?"

The question slips out without much thinking on his part, but Victor is curious enough to wait for the answer. He thought he must have been seeing things before when he noticed the flash of understanding in prince Yuuri's eyes, but maybe… maybe he wasn't wrong in the end. Maybe he really did–

The answer, when it comes, isn't what Victor expects. It doesn't come with words, not even with the chirps that Victor has gotten used to. It's a light touch of fingers to his cheek, jaw, lips, as prince Yuuri slides his hand over his face, tenderly soft.

"You were watching over me?" Victor guesses, and for that receives a smile. His heart flutters sweetly in his chest. "Thank you."

Prince Yuuri chirps again, as if to say "You're welcome." 

Victor's smile returns with full power. He takes the hand that lingers around his mouth and kisses the gold stained fingertips. 

"We have to leave soon for the lake," he says, now certain that he wasn't wrong in assuming the mer prince to know the meaning of his words. "Should we go now or wait for the sun?" 

Prince Yuuri shakes his head lightly. He lifts off the bed in a motion so smooth that Victor cannot tear his eyes away if he tried. He doesn't try it, though. Nothing could ever make him look away from the beauty of his husband, he knows, because nothing could ever compare to the glorious sight. Not one thing, never.

Gently, the mer prince takes Victor's hand and pulls him out of bed with him. Victor pauses on the edge, unsure if they should dress, but his husband only shakes his head again. On uncertain legs he guides them outside, into the night that becomes tenderly gray where the sky meets the sea. The campfire is still burning, but the flames are low and dying in the morning breeze. What little light they give, though, is enough for them to make their way towards the lake that looms before them like a dark, endless void. Victor follows behind his husband dutifully, ready to catch him if he stumbles, but prince Yuuri adapts to walking so well that it is hard to believe this is only his second try at it.

Grinning to himself, Victor asks: "Did you practice walking when I was sleeping?"

Brown eyes turn to him, and even though the mer prince's face is serious, his eyes crinkle as if amused. 

_Stars of the heaven_ , Victor thinks, smitten beyond reason, _he's so beautiful_.

"How come you can understand me?" Victor cannot help but ask instead. 

He knows he will not get a reply in words, for what little understanding they have does not go both ways. It is better than nothing, still. 

Prince Yuuri blushes, but Victor doesn't understand why until he shows him the answer: his hand slowly slides down his spine to rest against his–

Victor flushes as hard as his husband.

"So, that's–" Victor clears his throat from embarrassment, but it still clings to his skin with warmth. "You mean because of what we did? Why...? How...? I cannot fathom how that would–"

And then he realizes. 

"That's why the mating lasts an entire day, isn't it?" He turns his eyes towards his equally flushed husband. "The night you spent with me as a human, and the day I will spend with you in the lake. So we can both understand each other."

Prince Yuuri nods with a smile. He offers Victor a hand, which Victor takes readily. Together, they walk towards the lake. The mer prince enters the darkness without hesitation, and from the moment his human feet touch the cool water, his body begins to change much like Chris' has done before.

The magic wears off. 

In the faint light of the campfire Victor can only see the flickering shapes of the tentacles that split from his husband's legs. The ink-black colouring returns to his lower body, returns to his ears, his hands. His teeth sharpen and gleam when he smiles. Victor hopes it was a smile that meant to reassure him, and so, when prince Yuuri offers a hand to lead him into his domain, Victor takes it with that hope brimming in his heart. 

He shouldn't have worried. 

Strong arms catch him the moment he slips into the water and hold him close as they swim towards the center of the lake. Victor wonders if they will go under, but they stop there, right in the middle, where no light from the camp reaches. Where they made their vows not even a day before.

He's slightly scared, Victor realizes as the chill of the night waters makes him tremble. It's faint, but he is afraid of what is to come. The fear of the unknown and the fear of not being good enough cling to his skin until he shivers with it, but so as not to let it get the best of him, to show himself off from the best side he can be, Victor makes the leap.

In gentle hands he takes prince Yuuri's face and rests a tender kiss on his ink-black lips.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well... I won't say much but... tomorrow we're getting consentacles so BE READY MY FRIENDS. WE'RE GONNA GO HARD ;3c


	10. Chapter 10

 

 

"Be gentle with me," Victor whispers against the mouth full of sharp teeth.

His lips must tremble, because the mer Prince brings their foreheads together in reassuring tenderness. Victor breathes through it, tries to calm down the sudden spike of fear that shoots through his feeble heart. 

He's mostly successful at it. 

No one ever explained to him the mating habits of merfolk, much less cecaelia, and Chris has been deceivingly mum about it as well. The nervousness of not knowing what to expect or what is expected of him are only part of Victor's worries. Another part is... well. Unlike the first time when Victor felt the slippery touch of tentacles on his body, last night at the ceremony, now he is completely naked. Bare as the day he was born. It is enough that water now slides between his legs freely, caresses him in places that make him shiver for what is to come, but the moment Victor feels the first slippery slide of his husband's legs over his thigh, he doesn't know whether he's hard or terrified. 

He's both, he realizes when his waist is circled by a thicker one. They all wrap around him tight: some on his legs, some on his waist, on knees and ankles, and one even crawls up his back. Victor feels secure enough in the embrace to give into pleasure, which he hopes is what awaits him. He was gentle with his husband when he took him the first time, so he trusts that prince Yuuri will give him the same courtesy. At least to begin with. After... will come after, once he gets his first fill. 

Victor shudders at the thought. The fear lingers at the back of his mind, but when he looks from the dark waters into his husband's face, all he sees is gentleness. It soothes him. Of course, the mer prince's features have a certain bestiality to them, but Victor knows him at least enough to know that he can be kind. 

And so he hopes. 

The pleasure comes far sooner than he would've thought. It begins with a tiny spark that lights the all consuming fire in his belly when his thighs are pulled apart by strong tentacles. His still soft cock is stirred to hardness with another slippery leg, and Victor groans at the odd sensation. Odd, yes, _but good_.

The touch of the slippery soft skin on him makes Victor shudder with almost every stroke. He bites his lips on a low moan, but when another tentacle slips between his balls and begins to rub against his yet unused hole, Victor's moans break free. 

They spill over the water and carry into the dark, yet he cares little about who might hear. His pleasure is no sin and, when his cock grows hard, he feels no shame in letting his husband know how much he appreciates being in his care. The mer prince croons to him in return, holding him close while one of his tentacles rubs the most intimate part of Victor's body.

It's a different tentacle from the rest, is Victor's thought when it slides over his most sensitive skin. It feels as if there are tiny warts along all sides. It's a tiny detail, but when that tentacle brushes against his balls, when it rubs against his hole as if in promise of what's to come, Victor feels his insides squeeze with the overwhelming need. 

"Please," he pants. "I want… you. Do it…"

The tentacle on his cock tightens and Victor keens. He needs _more_. 

In a desperate attempt to make his husband understand what he wants, he shifts forward and rests his chest against prince Yuuri's. He slings one hand over his back to hold himself in place, while the other he reaches down to where the warty tentacle circles his throbbing hole, teasing in a way that Victor would've appreciated if he wasn't so flustered already. Without stopping to feel at the tentacle like he might have done any other time, Victor slips two fingers into himself and moans right into his husband's neck.

Nosing at it, rubbing his face on it, he fucks himself with his own fingers to ensure that whatever comes next won't hurt too much. The water eases the slide, and even though it feels odd to finger himself open – and even more odd to do so underwater, where every thrust of his fingers allows more water to enter him and tickle his most sensitive, most intimate of places – Victor continues to work himself on his own hand.

And when the moment comes, it doesn't hurt one bit.

The mer prince must see his frustration, his need, and he takes pity on him. The tentacle that has been teasing him until now slides past Victor's fingers and, finally, it pushes into Victor's body. 

Victor's breathing almost stops then. 

It's not from any sort of pain, but from a sensation so unknown, so new, so exciting, that he shudders with it and bends his spine for more. The warts rub against him from the inside, while the tip twists and curls and tickles somewhere so deep that Victor feels it as if beneath his ribs. It's impossible, of course, but the overwhelming sensation of being filled makes his eyes roll back and his lips part on open-mouthed breaths and moans.

The tentacle fucks him slowly, then faster. It's slim at the tip, but the more of it coils inside him, the fuller Victor feels. The base of it is as thick as his fist, maybe more, and when it stuffs Victor fully, it splits his hips so wide that Victor's body titters on the verge of pain. 

"Ah... ah..." he gasps. "So full… Good… More, Yuuri–"

But more doesn't come. Not at once.

Instead, something spurts into him. Unlike human cum, which Victor knows is still warm with the warmth of the body it comes from, this is different. It's cold, so cold that Victor twitches and cries out in surprise. He almost pulls away, but the tentacles hold him steady and pull him back down so that he sinks onto the thick tentacle, where his place is. 

The mer prince chirps at him, croons softly, while one of his hands, his mer hands, those that are partially human, rubs at Victor's belly. 

A blush rises on Victor's face. He can't understand what the prince is saying, not yet it seems, for the magic of the ritual must have time to take hold, but Victor knows the gesture enough to tell that prince Yuuri must be speaking of breeding: of their future possible offspring. And by the hand resting on his belly, he must wish for Victor to carry them to term. 

The thought might not have been so odd, if not for the tentacle which stirs to life once more the moment Victor thinks it's done. And then he's fucked again, and again, and again. The tentacle fills him three times, then four, and Victor begins to understand the aim of it – his belly swells with cum, bigger and bigger still with every time he's filled.

He groans when another cool spill makes him arch his back. His belly is huge now, brushing against his husband with every breath he takes, with every move he makes, with every sway of the waters. The mer prince took to crooning directly into Victor's ear a while back, and now he chirps sweetly to him as if he's so proud of Victor for keeping it all in.

That, unlike anything else, makes Victor flush with delight. Yes, he wants to make him proud. He wants to be good. He wants to please him–

Victor's moan is part desperation, part pleasure when the tight tentacle on his cock strokes him closer to the edge. He hasn't come even once in all this time. It hasn't even been that long, he thinks, for the sun has only risen above the trees on the far shore. But it seems now is the time, because the tentacle strokes him once, then twice, and then keeps going harder, faster, until Victor trembles with the force of his release.

His cum shoots into the water, but Victor cannot even see it – his belly blocks the view completely. Exhausted, Victor slumps against his husband, unable to do anything but pant his rapid, shallow breaths into his wet skin. 

Gently, as if any touch could burst it, he touches his bloated belly. It's incredible, he thinks, dizzy with it. He would have never been able to imagine something like this before. He strokes his belly, already feeling attached to it somehow, which is odd. This entire thing is odd. The marriage, the ritual, the aftermath, the tentacle that still wiggles inside him as if asking for permission to move again.

It's all odd, and yet… Yet…

Victor looks up into his husband's face to see him watching him with worry pinched around his eyes. Shaking his head to rid himself of the stars from his eyes, Victor arches up to rest a sweet kiss against the ink-black lips.

"More," he begs on a greedy breath.

Brown eyes gleam at him with unhidden delight.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was my first time writing tentacles and boy was it a WILD ride //insert sweating towel guy.jpg


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the late update, I've been killed by a headache yesterday, but that means you get double today, so enjoy this one now and see yall back in the evening!! ❤️

 

 

The sun is almost coming down when Victor regains good reason. He's filthy, covered in cum – both his own, and his husband's from the multiple times he's been filled. He was unable to keep more than six spurts inside him, which made him just a little bit upset, but every time the corners of his mouth have dropped, his husband's soft crooning and tender nuzzling brought them right up in a sweet smile. It was impossible to feel defeated when showered with so much affection.

Even now, while the cum keep spilling out of him into the sun-warmed waters of the lake, Victor cannot help his smitten sigh. He's spent. Utterly, completely, devotedly. But he feels full, and he feels good – better than he could've imagined.

His husband is floating around him, chirping and trilling and cooing, caressing Victor's body with his many legs. Victor drifts on his back in the water and his swollen belly basks in the last rays of the orange sun. He runs a hand over it, wishing he could bear a child this way, but knowing better than that. Without magic it would hardly be possible.

Alas, he cannot deny the pleasure of that thought. 

His husband must think the same, because he hovers and nuzzles him in all the ways he can, with a special focus on Victor's still swollen belly, which brings a smile to Victor's exhausted face. He giggles when hair tickles his cheek and squirms a little when a tentacle brushes against a sensitive spot. 

So for every croon, every chirp, every sweet nothing that falls from prince Yuuri's lips, Victor has his own sweetness to reply with. 

"Yes, darling," he says to whatever mer prince chirps into his ear. 

"You are so precious, love. You know that, don't you?" he gives, and chuckles at the embarrassed twist of tentacles. 

"I'm so happy, too," he promises as their foreheads touch, and means it.

His belly empties while the sun sets. Prince Yuuri stays at arm's reach the entire time, which turns Victor's thoughts to their children once more. He knows not the rearing young mers get, nor does he know cecaelias enough to be able to tell, but… from the sweetness and caring he can see in his husband now, Victor somehow is sure that the mer prince would be a good father. It pleases him, for he would've hated the thought of making his children suffer with only one parent to love them and spoil. 

"Do you want children?" Victor asks. The sky has tilted into darkness, but it is still a little early for the first stars. 

The tentacles that have been caressing Victor's belly tighten as if to reply an enthusiastic "Yes!" 

Victor chuckles. 

"How many?" he asks more. "I always wanted at least two. An older boy, an heir, and a girl who would be the sweetest in the whole kingdom." Victor turns his head to the side to peer at his husband. "What about you?"

To reply, the mer prince takes Victor's hand. A tentacle lifts from the water and gently touches Victor's fingers: one, two three, four, five of them, and then again, six, seven, eight. It hovers over nine, and Victor gasps when he realizes what his husband means by this. 

" _That many?!_ " 

Victor flushes at the very thought of it. Nine children… He can't say he'd mind the act of conceiving them all, no matter how often his husband would want to, but carrying that many to term… giving birth to them… caring for and raising them… He shudders at the prospect. 

Prince Yuuri must feel his shock, because he trills what Victor has learned to be a laugh. Victor gasps again, now more playful than shocked, and smitten beyond both.

"You were teasing me?" he asks, delight in his voice. 

The mer prince only keeps laughing, so Victor splashes him with water, which only serves to make his husband laugh more. 

"You're awful," Victor complains, fighting against a smile. "I can't believe you're so mean to me when I'm kindly offering my womb for our future offspring. Just you wait, I'll have you carry at least three of those nine you want and we'll see who'll be laughing then!"

The prince keeps chuckling even at Victor's silly threat. 

Well, Victor isn't mad at him, so it is hard to keep a serious face against those sweet trills. He tries his best, though, yet once his husband's amusement settles, he has long since lost the battle against his own joy. 

"You can laugh now, but we'll see who has the last laugh here, darling," Victor teases back.

And then, then something incredible happens. He has been expecting it, yes, but somehow in the moment Victor forgot about it. So when it comes, it comes out of nowhere, and steals the breath out of his lungs as successfully as his husband's beauty did the very night before.

Because right then, for the first time since they saw each other, for the first time since he heard the adorable chirps that fall from between prince Yuuri's lips, Victor hears–

"So we shall."

Victor's entire body tenses up. It is not the best of circumstances, for he is still floating in the lake, and the stillness of his body takes him under. He struggles to find footing and flutters about like a drowning man, until he finally breaks the surface once more with the help of his husband's tentacles, which hold him up and steady. Victor splutters from both the incredulous joy and the water that has entered his mouth on a surprised little gasp. 

"Wha– Did you just–" He sucks in a breath and pushes his wet hair out of his face to see his husband's face better. "I can understand you now?"

"Can you?" the mer prince chirps, and _yes_ , Victor's eyes widen – _he can_. 

He sounds different than Victor imagined. His chirping has been sweet, and even now he can hear the lingering echo of it under the words he now understands. The voice of the mer prince is deeper than those chirps, though. It is silkier, smoother. It makes Victor think of the depths of the ocean with their silky darkness and cool, both treacherous and stunning, just like the mer it belongs to. 

_It's beautiful._

"Say something again," Victor asks, excited. "Anything. Please."

Brown eyes are decidedly amused when they look into his face, even if prince Yuuri's cheeks are flushed a tender, glowing pink. 

"What do you want me to say? This is embarrassing…"

With a squeal of delight, Victor throws his arms around him. 

"I can understand you now!" he cheers. "That's so wonderful! Oh, I wondered how we were going to live together when neither of us spoke the tongue, but this is amazing! It's incredible! Is this magic?"

The mer prince shakes his head. "It's the binding ritual. A form of residual magic from the joining of blood, so it draws more on us than on any outside power."

He takes Victor's hand, the same one where the golden line of their bonding gleams in the light of the moon, and runs a black nail over it. 

"It sleeps here, the magic," he says, looking up again to peer into Victor's eyes. "After we have both submitted to each other in the most intimate way, guided by the power of the stars and the sun, the magic linked our hearts together. And because of that, we have gained the understanding of that which we previously couldn't fathom."

"Does that mean there is more?" Victor curiously takes in the golden line on his wrist, then the one on his husband's. "Does that mean we will gain more than just the language, Yuu– Ah." 

He pauses, flushing all of a sudden. The mer prince blinks at him, a picture of adorable confusion. Suddenly, somehow, even though they have been intimate with each other before, even though he still is all but naked and covered in the evidence of their closeness; suddenly Victor his boldness twofold. 

"Can, um, can I use your name like this?" he asks, aware of his blunder earlier. Quickly, he follows: "I admit I've been thinking of you as prince Yuuri since the very start, but I've never called you so casually, so I wonder if you will think me too presumptuous for–"

"Victor," Yuuri calls, and Victor halts his rambling at the sweet way it rolls of his tongue. The mer prince smiles at him, encouraging, yet tender. "I've been calling you that since this morning. I hope you don't mind?"

Victor can only mutely shake his head. 

"Say it again," he asks, wondering if he can tell apart the chirping sounds that make up his name. 

"Victor," the mer prince says. 

"Again," Victor asks. 

"Victor."

"One more."

"Victor."

"And one–"

"No." 

The mer prince purses his lips, flushed up to his dark ears. His eyes flit away, when Victor gasps with delighted outrage.

"But, Yuuri–"

Among the splashes of water, tentacles gently flip him over towards the trees and Victor laughs.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaaand we're back to good soft times! for how long tho? hmm, I wonder...


	12. Chapter 12

 

 

Yuuri stays in the lake that night, while Victor puts on his robes, gathers his belongings and leaves for a breath to bid his men farewell on their way back to the palace. He's quick about it, since he cannot wait to return to his husband, lest he conceives a truly absurd thought that Victor might be wishing for an escape. 

The night is still dark when Victor returns to the lake, and calls: "Yuuri, I'm back!"

The dark waters ripple even before the echo of his voice dies among the wisteria. Much like the very first time they met, Yuuri rises out of the lake in a way that would terrify anyone, but to Victor it now only causes a trill of joy. He smiles at his husband and receives a smile in return. 

"Are you finished?" Yuuri asks.

"I am. Unless you think I should take something else? Where are we heading anyway?" 

Victor readjusts his grip on the bag that contains a blanket, a change of clothes, a beautiful silver comb – the final present from his mother – and a purse filled with gold. Some food wrapped in linen, in case wherever they're going will be a long journey. For good measure, Victor has also strapped a knife to his hip instead of keeping it hidden. He could've taken the tent as well, but with only him and his husband travelling on foot – or on tail, he thinks to himself and bites his lip to hold back a grin – it would be too heavy and too problematic to bring. 

"There is a small island to the east," Yuuri explains, swimming up to the shore. Victor kneels to greet him. "You will stay there."

Before their foreheads can touch, Victor pulls back. He frowns.

"What about you?"

"I will stay in the water for a while," Yuuri explains, looking away from him as if to judge the dark waters. "To guard it, to set the sea at ease with our presence."

He cannot say he understands the meaning, even though he understands the words, but Victor nods. He leans his forehead onto his husband's, heaving a sigh to comfort his heart. They have only been married for a day, yet somehow the thought of staying apart has made Victor undeniably afraid.

"How long?" he asks, touching his nose to Yuuri's. He won't beg him to stay, even if the words would leave his mouth freely should he open it.

"Until it knows me." The answer tells Victor nothing and it must show on his face, for Yuuri gives more: "A week, at most."

Victor nods. 

A week he can handle. Maybe. Perhaps. He hopes he can.

He has never had to rely on his men for fire or food when they left the palace to hunt or travel. He did so because they insisted, but he had confidence in his own abilities to stay alive as well. Now, that knowledge will prove useful to him, and later on to teach his husband when he steps onto dry land. 

"Should we leave now, then?" Victor asks. 

"We can wait for dawn, if you so wish, but for us merfolk the light of the day makes no difference underwater." Yuuri's hand lifts to gently touch Victor's face. "And it won't to you, either. Not when you become one of us."

On a shaky breath, Victor nods. "How should I…?"

"Come."

Dark hands take his own and pull him gently into the water. Victor's clothes once again grow wet and so do the things in his bag. He will have to dry them later in the sunlight. Maybe he should have taken rope with him, or maybe he'll make some out of vines, or use tree branches to hang it out on. In fact, it will all have to depend on the climate of the island and the state of the sky, and–

Victor's thoughts stop the moment Yuuri gently slides down into the water. He pulls on Victor's hands, tugs him in under. Before Victor can even suck in a big breath, his head slips under the surface and everything turns dark. Panic, fresh and cold like the water around him, fills his heart faster than he can blink. He tries to free his hands and at least take one last breath, but Yuuri tugs him deeper into the depths. Tentacles coil around his legs, around his waist, and Victor is dragged down towards his doom.

His lungs hurt, his eyes sting. Any second now, he's sure, his consciousness will swim away from the lack of breath, and he will drown. He trashes around, tries to rip himself away from the cruel gasps of his husband's, but if anything, Yuuri only holds him tighter. He pulls him closer, coils around him tighter. Victor feels as if his legs would never part again. 

He struggles for the final time, for as long as his body moves, and then he stills. It's through a fog of near collapse that he feels Yuuri's hands on his face, bringing their foreheads together.

"Breathe," Yuuri tells him. 

Victor wishes to snap at him that he would if he could, but he cannot open his mouth. Not yet, not while the last of his breath lingers in it.

"Breathe, Victor," Yuuri insists. His fingers tighten on Victor's face, clawed nails break the skin. "Breathe!"

_So this is it_ , Victor thinks as he opens his mouth, _this is how I die..._

But he doesn't. 

Water fills his mouth, but it doesn't choke him. It doesn't fill his lungs and take his life away like he expected it to. He cannot explain how or when, but one moment it's dark when he blinks, out of breath and close to giving up, and the next… the next the water is as clear to him as if daylight itself has shone into its depths. Victor blinks and it no longer stings. 

He takes a breath.

Yuuri's hand runs through his hair in a soothing gesture, and Victor sees him smile.

"Good," Yuuri praises. "Breathe, Victor. Calm down. You're all well."

And he is. 

Victor breathes once, then again. Air filters through his body along with the water. His mind clears of the darkness and panic, and his heart settles on a more even rhythm. 

Yuuri's eyes never leave him, though. 

"What is it?" Victor asks.

"You're beautiful," Yuuri tells him, and then pulls away as if flustered at his own words. 

At such words Victor would be, too, if his heart still wasn't recovering from his meeting with death. Shy, embarrassed tentacles coil around his husband like dark vines and it is all Victor can do to watch, when suddenly the truth of what he's seeing hits him. 

The tentacles. All gently swaying around Yuuri. Around him…

_Then what_ , Victor thinks, eyes wide in surprise, _is keeping my legs wrapped so tight?_

He looks down his body, and stares.

For his human feet have turned into a fish tail, gorgeous and glistening, and keeping him afloat in the dark waters of the ocean. 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did I scare you? sorry! this is a floofy story, I promise ;3c


	13. Chapter 13

 

 

Shimmering in the water, Victor turns left and right to take in all the changes in his body. 

His hands have turned pale, almost white, but his nails and the beginnings of his fingers look as if they were dipped in blue paint. Victor's robe floats behind him, now more constricting than anything else, so he pulls it off, pulls off his shirt as well, and the pants, which now have huge rips on both legs where his tail has pushed through the stitching. Once he sees his naked body, he cannot help staring. Beautiful silver scales begin below Victor's navel, cover his hips and reach all the way down to the very fin, which feels so light, yet strong, that Victor whips the water with it in true joy. He grins as he twirls in the water, admiring the pearlescent scales that shimmer silver, white and blue whenever he moves. 

Finally, Victor peers up at his husband who watches him with just as much amusement.

"This is incredible!" Victor says. He flaps his tail and takes another twirl, giggling to himself. "Is this a part of our bonding? Will I always turn into a mer whenever I swim?"

"Only when you enter saltwater, and then only when you dive in fully," Yuuri explains. "If it is anything else, you will remain human, still."

"And you? Your legs work the same?"

"They do, yes. When I leave the water and step onto land, I become human," Yuuri agrees. "It's part of the magic of sharing blood. We are now both carrying a piece of the other, both human and both mer, so whenever the magic recognizes our need for a change, it will answer."

"Amazing," Victor whispers, and finally lifts his eyes to his husband again. "How do I look?"

He spins around and swims closer, marvelling at the ease with which he can now move in the water. It's truly something he has never given any thought, but now that he has experienced it, he cannot believe how badly human body is constricted by its limbs. With his tail gently swaying to keep him afloat, Victor feels more free than he has felt on land in a long, long time.

The sweet look in his husband's eyes only strengthens the feeling.

"You look like you belong nowhere else," Yuuri tells him, and Victor smiles back. His cheeks flush with pleasure. 

"I want to be nowhere else," he replies, just as tenderly. 

Yuuri freezes for a moment as if struck by hesitation, and then closes the faint distance between them. Their foreheads come together in a gesture that already feels as familiar as breathing. Victor smiles, looking into his husband's brown eyes, and he receives a smile in return. 

"What does it mean, the forehead touching?" Victor gives in to his curiosity. 

"It's hard to put in words," Yuuri says, but he doesn't say anything more. He only flushes when Victor continues to gaze at him, expecting a reply. "It's… well… What, what does this mean then?"

Yuuri's black-clawed hand rests against Victor's heart. Victor covers it with his own before he even thinks to answer the question. 

"It can mean many things. 'Calm down, listen, I love you, please, don't worry,'" Victor lists, and lifts Yuuri's hand to his lips. He rests a kiss on his fingers and smiles again. "But most of all it's a show of affection."

"Affection," Yuuri repeats, looking at their joined hands as if trying to understand a foreign concept. "And you… you feel that? For me? Even though we have only just met? Even though I am…" 

He pauses, and his tentacles coil in a way that openly shows his shame. When he speaks next, his voice is so quiet that Victor needs to strain his ears to hear him. 

"Even though I am like this?"

Heart in his throat from the empathy that fills him, Victor softly asks: "Like what, love?"

Yuuri rips his hand out of Victor's and turns, as if in anger. Victor can't tell what the reason for it could be, yet he sees it's true where it simmers in Yuuri's stormy eyes. Victor reaches out to him, but Yuuri swims away from him with a powerful twist of his many legs. 

"You think I don't know what humans think of us?" Yuuri says, voice holding a bitter edge. "You think I don't know they think merfolk freaks? That you all believe us monsters?"

"Not all of us think like this," Victor argues, but when Yuuri's eyes narrow at him, he cannot help a flush at having been caught in a lie. "Very well, I'll admit it. I was one of them, yes. For the longest time I thought I was going to marry a monster."

Yuuri flinches. He recoils from Victor as if he slapped him. 

Victor curses on a rushed breath when Yuuri turns his back on him and begins to swim away. Chasing after him is hard with a new-made tail, but desperation pushes Victor harder.

"Yuuri, wait!" 

Panting, Victor catches up to him. He grabs Yuuri's elbow and forces his husband to look him in the eye. 

"I thought I was to marry a monster, for that is what I imagined you to be," he admits. "Chris described you to me and I only had my mind to build your picture. I couldn't have ever imagined you to be the way you are, because that is not what they told me. Don't you see, love?" 

Victor takes both of Yuuri's hands, squeezes them, and swims up close enough to allow their noses to touch. 

"You are nothing like what they told me," he says. "You are better, kinder, sweeter than anything I hoped for. I was prepared to lose my life to a monster, but instead I have married you: the gentle mer who has treated me with nothing but patience and understanding. Tell me, Yuuri, how could I not have any affection for someone like that?"

Yuuri looks down at their hands for a while. His silence is weighing on Victor more than he would like it to, but he doesn't break it. He can't. He's told Yuuri the truth of his thoughts and whether he accepts it or not now depends solely on Yuuri.

"You thought I would kill you?" Yuuri asks at last. He doesn't look up even then. His hands tremble where Victor holds them. "You thought you were going to die?"

"I didn't know the bonding ritual would allow me to breathe underwater," Victor admits, squeezing Yuuri's hands to reassure him. "I didn't know anything. The only thing I knew is that my future would be decided by the good will of my half-human, half-squid husband. You can see how that could terrify me, no?"

"I'm sorry," Yuuri whispers.

Victor shakes his head. "Don't be. None of it is your fault. And look at us now! I'm still alive, aren't I?"

When Yuuri says nothing and doesn't as much as look up, Victor frees one of his hands to pull his chin up. For the first time then, he takes notice of the purple-black skin around Yuuri's jaw. It's beautiful, and he wonders about the touch of it, but he resists the urge to run his fingers over it. He has other things to do now than admire his husband's beauty, even if that beauty makes his heart clench with pure adoration. 

"Yuuri," Victor softly speaks his name, "is it really so hard to believe I could feel affection for the person I will spend the rest of my life with?"

"Do you even want it?" Yuuri finally asks. His eyes are dark when they lift to meet Victor's.

"Since meeting you, more than life itself," Victor replies, honest and daring. 

He brings the hand which he still holds in his other one to his chest and rests it against his beating heart to prove the truth of his words. And when he does, Yuuri's eyes soften. Their foreheads come together when Yuuri leans into him, and his eyelashes tickle at Victor as his eyes flutter shut. 

"I believe you," Yuuri says," because it is the same for me."

And life has never been sweeter to Victor than in that moment.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you know... just now I had a thought that I'm probably writing them too sweet on each other after only a few days together but then I had another thought. and it was: I DON'T CARE. I LOVE IT.  
> and I hope you do too 😉


	14. Chapter 14

 

 

Swimming as a mer, Victor comes to find out, is far more difficult than humans realize. Victor tires easily, flops his tail too little or too much, and has trouble turning whenever it's required. Yuuri sees his struggle and laughs secretly – which Victor thinks adorable, but also so mean he cannot hold back his own grins – until Victor clings to him and begs him to teach him. 

So Yuuri does. 

He twirls around, tentacles trailing after him like a beautiful dark veil. He shows Victor how to turn, how to stop at will, how to move his tail with the most efficiency and how to conserve as much strength as he can by allowing the water to guide his movements instead of fighting it. 

It takes Victor a while to figure things out, but in the end he thinks he is doing a better job than one could expect. For a human, that is. And even if Yuuri bursts out laughing when Victor manages to spin in circles for a good minute before he manages to control his side to side turning, Victor is still proud of himself.

And more than that, he is smitten with his husband's smooth, effortless swimming which reminds Victor so much of dancing. And his beauty. And his laughter. And his–

"You've been staring," Yuuri says, embarrassed purple blooming over his cheeks while they rest along an underwater reef. 

"Have I?" Victor chirps back. He's playing innocent, but they both know it's only a front. Yuuri's eyes clearly tell him that where they slant as he gives him a look. "Alright, yes, I have been staring. Can you blame me, though? You're absolutely stunning."

He slides over the hard reef shelf to sit closer to Yuuri and grins when Yuuri's tentacles twist and curl as if he wants to escape but is holding back. He stays, and so Victor rests one hand on where his tentacles are the thickest – right in his lap. Victor leans as close as he can and noses at his husband's cheek. Yuuri's tentacles twist and curl, oh so transparent in his reactions.

"I'm such a lucky man to have a husband as beautiful as you," Victor breathes. 

One of Yuuri's tentacles lifts to stroke Victor's cheek and he kisses it, giggling to himself. 

"Chris spoke of your charming words to me, but I couldn't believe there could be a better man at flattery than him. After meeting you, I definitely can," Yuuri says. He turns his head to Victor. His flushed cheeks are soft, yet his eyes are softer, and Victor melts in them like his heart melts into bliss. "Do you always speak this way, or is it only for my benefit that you choose to be so sweet?"

"What, can't I profess my love to my husband? Is it a crime?" Victor asks, smiling. "If you hate it, I will stop, but if you don't…"

"I don't hate it," Yuuri answers quickly. "I don't."

It feels like happiness bursts in Victor's chest with the power of a thousand suns. He makes a small sound of joy, and throws both arms around Yuuri's shoulders. 

"Then I will keep telling you every day," he promises. "Every hour of every day, every–"

Yuuri laughs. "Stop that! I'm not that beautiful."

"Lies," Victor gasps. "What awful and cruel lies! You _are_ that beautiful. And more. You're the most stunning mer I've ever seen!"

"You must not have seen many of us then," Yuuri says, but in his eyes Victor can see playful sparks of amusement and pleasure in his blushing cheeks.

"Maybe not," Victor agrees, "but no matter how many I see, you are my husband, and thus the most gorgeous of them all. No one could ever match your beauty. I just know it."

Yuuri shakes his head, hair floating every which way in an adorable crown. It gives him a softness that Victor cannot help but adore.

"There is someone that could," Yuuri says then. "Someone who surpasses it easily."

"Wha– _Who?_ " 

Victor's surprise is short-lived. Yuuri turns his head to him, lifts a hand to cradle the side of Victor's face, and breathes:

" _You._ "

Everything be damned, Victor blushes like he has never done before in his entire life. His heart trembles inside his chest, sings sweetness and love into his veins. And he knows. He knows that this mer, prince Yuuri, is his for life, and he is truly the luckiest man alive to be able to call him that.

"Yuuri, you–" 

Victor begins to vow his eternal love, but a black-ink finger on his lips halts his words. 

"You think you are the only one in awe in this marriage?" Yuuri asks, then offers a slanted smile. "I have heard stories of you since I was a babe. 'The most beautiful man to ever live', they call you. Young merfolk chance their parents' wrath each year when they swim up to the surface for even a glimpse of you."

Victor listens with his mouth open. "Me?"

"You." Yuuri nods. "I was one of them, a long time ago, you know."

"What? When?" Victor asks, so baffled at the new knowledge. "You've seen me before?"

"Once. My parents were so worried when I returned after two days." Yuuri smiles to himself at the fond memory. "I only saw you from afar, not enough to hear your voice or see your eyes, but your hair…" Yuuri turns to run a hand through Victor's short silver strands that spill in the water like cobwebs. His smile softens further. "It was so long back then. Silver like the moon itself has kissed your head and blessed you. I was instantly fascinated, yet I could never muster enough courage to swim up closer to shore to talk to you."

He shakes his head, still with a smile. He turns that smile up at Victor, and adds:  

"And I remember your smile." Yuuri's thumb rests against Victor's bottom lip, searching for a ghost of it. "It was so big, so carefree, so... warm. It made me want to be close to you. It made me want _you_. Ever since that day, I couldn't forget you, so when the time for me to marry arrived at last, I blurted out that the only person I could see myself with was you."

"Is that why Chris came to negotiate in your name? Because you said it in the heat of the moment and had to suffer the consequences?" Victor asks, afraid of the answer. 

"No, never that." The vehemence in Yuuri's denial soothes Victor's worries. "It might have been a decision guided by my heart, but when I spoke the words I knew them to be nothing but the truth. I could marry no one else but you, and my parents saw it. So they arranged for Chris to carry the offer to you and your parents, and that's how we ended up here."

Yuuri looks to him again. He leans closer and guides Victor's face to allow their foreheads to meet. 

"I couldn't believe it when you accepted," Yuuri says, eyes closed. "Were you scared then, too?"

"Baffled," Victor admits, "and scared as well. Chris showed up out of nowhere. I haven't even begun to think of marriage, but what your parents offered was too good for my father to pass up on, so he agreed without thinking of what I might want."

"Do you regret it?" 

"Not for a second, no," Victor replies, easy as breathing. "I wish you had spoken to me back then, though. Or that you'd come with Chris, so we could've met earlier. I feel like all this time I have lost on fear I should've spent celebrating instead."

"We still have time to celebrate," Yuuri reminds him, smiling. "We have all the time in the world."

"That we do," Victor agrees, smiling as well. He touches their noses together and breathes in the water that gives life instead of pain. "That we do."

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I. AM. SO. SOFT.
> 
> RTSXDUTCYFVGUJBGHTXGDCDVUJBGIKJNHBYDRTXCYVBNJM


	15. Chapter 15

 

 

They arrive at the island when the sun has already come down on the second day of their journey. The land looks as dark as the waters, but without Yuuri's presence next to him it terrifies Victor far more than the open sea. 

They stay together in a little cave below the surface when Victor shares his worries with his husband. Yuuri makes a pillow of seaweed and offers it to Victor just like he has done the night before. Victor takes it, but instead of sleeping on it he hugs it to his chest and slumbers against Yuuri's shoulder. No matter how fat Yuuri has stuffed the pillow, no matter how soft, the feel of his husband's skin will always win in Victor's book. 

The little nuzzle of Yuuri's cheek on Victor's head just as he falls asleep is more than worth it.

He awakens to something poking his side, but, wrapped in the arms of sleep, Victor only swats at it. He turns into Yuuri's neck to fall back asleep. Before he can, something pokes him again, so he grunts with all the annoyance he can muster. 

The chuckle that jostles the shoulder Victor has been dosing on wakes him up fully.

"Wake up, Victor," comes Yuuri's sweet voice, so tender and precious that Victor doesn't hold back the smile that slips onto his lips. "It's time for you to go to the surface."

And just like that, Victor's smile disappears. Stubbornly, he closes his eyes again.

"Can't go if I'm still asleep," he says.

Yuuri laughs again. "And we both know you aren't."

"I am," Victor insists, and snuggles closer to his husband. He nuzzles Yuuri's neck with his face and hums. "See? So asleep."

"How are you talking to me then?"

"Sleep-talking," Victor decides. "I'm having a very nice dream about you now. We're in a cave, lying on a bed of rock and seaweed, and you're holding me close in your strong, strong arms. It's very nice."

"Is it?" 

Yuuri's voice sounds a bit strained then, so Victor peaks up at him. He shouldn't have worried about it, though. The only change in Yuuri's face is the pretty purple blush across his cheeks. Victor smiles, ready to return to his game, when something else catches his eye. The black flesh that he admired on his husband not that long ago. 

Absently, Victor lifts a hand to touch it. His fingers brush against Yuuri's jaw, tender and loving. 

"What are you doing?" Yuuri asks. "Not pretending you're asleep anymore?"

Victor hums. "I found a better thing to do with my time."

His fingers slide down Yuuri's throat, then to the side of his neck, where black skin almost melts with his hair in the shade of the cave. Smiling to himself, Victor leans in just as Yuuri speaks again. 

"And what is tha– _AH!_ "

Yuuri squeaks and bolts, tentacles coiled and flustered as if to protect himself, when Victor rests his lips against the tender skin behind his ear. He's flushed now more than just on his face and, truly... _he's stunning_. Victor cannot take his smitten gaze away from him, and he doesn't even try. 

He chuckles when Yuuri turns his accusatory eyes on him. 

"You are too precious, my love. Forgive me, I couldn't help myself."

"And here I was so kind in waking you up," Yuuri returns. "Next time I'll just dump a bucket of seaweed on your face."

Delighted, Victor gasps with a big, big smile on his face. Yuuri sees it and narrows his eyes as if full of contempt. Victor knows it's a play, though, and his heart floods over with affection. 

How incredible life is, Victor thinks to himself as he watches his husband leave their cave. It was just three days ago that he woke up on the ship carrying him to his doom, to a monster, to death's very door, and now? Now Victor cannot wrap his mind around how silly his fear has turned out to be. 

Yuuri is a sweet mer, a good person. 'A kind mer, a sweetheart', Chris has called him. Victor can see the truth of his words. And not only see it. Now, when he's experienced it first hand, Victor knows it. He believes it. And he loves it.

He stares after Yuuri, unseeing. 

Love… it's such a big word for only having met. Yet, in a way, Victor already feels it. Maybe it isn't the world-burning passion he has always dreamed of, but after spending these few days with Yuuri, Victor has no trouble believing it could grow to be that, and more. Somehow, he has hope for this marriage, hope for the future. And that hope opens the doors to his heart as wide as it can get. 

_To let him in._

"Victor?" 

Yuuri hovers at the entry to the cave, a worried frown on his face. Maybe he was waiting for Victor outside, maybe he thought he upset him when Victor didn't immediately follow. Victor's heart melts at the consideration given to him so freely, so kindly. 

He swims up to his husband, reaching out for his hand. Yuuri is unaccustomed to holding another's hand, it's clear, but he doesn't pull away when Victor takes it. He peers up at him as if searching for something on Victor's face, so Victor smiles to show him how happy he truly is. Under the force of his smile, Yuuri's shoulders lose their tension and he clutches at Victor's hand with more purpose.

"So, this is it?" Victor asks, looking up at where the sun shines into the waters. 

"It is," Yuuri confirms. "I will come see you in a week and–"

Victor shakes his head. "That is so long… Can't I stay with you here?"

"I won't be here the entire time," Yuuri explains. "And when I am not, I won't be able to protect you."

"Protect me? From what?" 

The look Yuuri gives Victor makes him feel suddenly small. There are so many things he doesn't know about his husband or where he comes from. So many others he doesn't understand about the sea. 

Before he can begin to feel even worse about it, Yuuri lifts his hand to softly cup the side of his face.

"Trust me," he asks.

"I do," Victor replies instantly, and is surprised to learn that he means it.

"Stay on the island, please," Yuuri asks again. "I would not be so set on it if it wasn't important, Victor. Until I return to you, do not enter the waters. Promise me."

Lips set in an unhappy line, Victor nods his agreement. He isn't happy about it, but if it's something Yuuri feels this strongly about, he will obey. 

"I promise."

As if relieved, Yuuri brings Victor's face closer and rests their foreheads together.

"Thank you." 

"Can you tell me why?" Victor asks, begs even. "I promise I will obey you in whatever you say, but… why? Why can't I stay with you?"

"The sea is capricious, Victor," Yuuri tells him then. "It isn't kind and it isn't stable. There are dangers lurking here, especially for a human like you. I do not wish for you to be hurt because of my own selfishness."

"But I am not human like this." Victor flips his tail pointedly, squeezes Yuuri's hand. "I am part mer now, just like you. You said so yourself."

"And you are, yes. But here," Yuuri gently touches Victor's silver head. His eyes are kind, his lips sweet, and Victor heart aches, "here you are still human. You think like one, behave like one. And I would hate to see you pay for it, if I can help it."

He doesn't want to, but Victor understands. He nods at last, taking Yuuri's hand from his hair and pressing his cheek into his palm. He sighs.

"Very well. I will stay on dry land until you come for me. A week, you said?"

"At most," Yuuri agrees. 

Victor sighs again, this time utterly pitiful. He doesn't protest when Yuuri brings their foreheads together once more. He simply closes his eyes, and hopes, prays, that the week would be over soon.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the legend says that before any angst a writer must feed their readers enough sweetness that they don't come murder them at night when they least expect it... yall think this is enough or do we need more? ;3c


	16. Chapter 16

 

 

Yuuri comes with him to the surface and holds him close when Victor's tail breaks into legs once he takes his first breath of fresh morning air. It's an odd feeling to feel blood rush to his feet when he spent so long without using them. They tingle and itch, and Victor leans against Yuuri without feeling guilty. 

Well, if he still leaned against him when feeling fully returned back to his legs to simply stay close to his husband, cradled in his arms, it is not entirely out of line either. Or so Victor tells himself as he presses his cheek to his husband's lean shoulder.

Yuuri gently sets him in the shallows, careful with his tentacles. He's so gentle, so tender, that Victor's heart sings praises to him even more than it usually does. And usually, it does it a lot anyway.

"It would be best if you stayed near the shore," Yuuri tells him while Victor rubs feeling into his legs. "There could be dangers inland that I have not taken into consideration when choosing this island. I hate to leave you here without any protection–"

"Yuuri," Victor interrupts him gently, smiling. "I'm a man, a prince, and I know my way around land with its many creatures possibly better than you. I will be well, I promise. You needn't worry about me."

"I'm sorry if I caused any offence, I didn't mean to," Yuuri gives, softer now. "I trust you to take care of yourself, so of course I believe you capable of dealing with anything that could threaten you. It's just… I worry."

Victor's heart flutters about his chest, sweetened by the considerate words. He takes both of Yuuri's hands in his and rests kisses one on each before he looks up to smile at his precious husband. 

"I understand, love, because I worry about you as well," he says. "Will you promise me you'll be careful out there? You'll come to shore if you're in danger?"

"I can't promise to bring danger to you," Yuuri replies, shaking his head. "But I can promise that I will be careful."

Victor's smile drops. "Only that?"

"What else would you have of me?" 

"For one, I'd like a promise that you'll return to me," Victor demands. "Whole, preferably. Alive."

Yuuri's lips quirk. "That would be my preference as well."

"Good." Victor nods. "Make that your priority, please?" 

Yuuri nods back, squeezing Victor's hands once. He says nothing, but that is enough. Victor trusts him, so he will believe in him, too.

"I would also like to see you every day, at sunrise or sundown, or whenever you wish. Just… it would put me at ease to see you and know that you are well."

"I can't promise that." Yuuri's head droops sadly. "I will be travelling around the island to make sure it is safe enough to stay on, that nothing will attack either of us while we're here. It might be that while you're here, I will be at the other side of the island. And no," he adds when Victor's mouth opens to say he can come along, "I do not want you to move around the island so much. Here, in one place you should be safe. Out there…" Yuuri shakes his head, lips thin. His eyes lift to gaze into Victor's with true worry.  "Please, Victor. Understand that I can't."

"Very well." Victor sighs, already having known that what he was asking for would be denied. "But then I have one more thing to ask of you."

"What is it?"

Victor tilts his head, smiling softly. "A kiss. One that will keep me from dying from the lack of your affection in the days to come."

Yuuri's cheeks flame with the force of his blush, but to Victor that sweet purple could not be any more beautiful. He grins when Yuuri's eyes flutter shut, so clear in his embarrassment. Scooting closer to Yuuri across the wet sand, Victor joins their foreheads together. 

"Please?"

"You don't need to beg for it," Yuuri answers in a voice so quiet that the hum of the waves crashing at their feet almost drowns it. "Just kiss me."

Victor needs not be asked twice.

He closes the distance between them by gently tilting his head and rests his lips against the black of Yuuri's. It's a different kiss than one they shared before in Victor's tent, and in the lake – oh, how fondly Victor remembers the lake! – where Yuuri focused on pleasing him in other ways. Now, though, Victor can enjoy the feeling of Yuuri's non-human lips, their softness, their wetness, and he loves it. He loves how despite their obvious differences, they come together and fit like one. Different, yet all the more perfect for it.

Yuuri's lips move under Victor's when he kisses him back. As if taking that for permission, Victor swipes his tongue against the full bottom lip. And once it drops on a gasp, he uses that for his advantage. He deepens the kiss, and moans when his tongue rubs against sharp, sharp teeth. 

Suddenly, Yuuri pulls back. 

"Did I hurt you?" he asks, touching Victor's jaw gently. His eyes are gorgeous brown in the morning sun, sweet like rum. 

"Not at all," Victor replies, drunk on him. "In fact, I think I will be gravely hurt if you don't kiss me again."

Yuuri looks at him as if to see if he's trying to play him, but when Victor remains wanting, he gives in. His thumb touches Victor's lip, slides across it in a way that makes Victor shiver despite the warm sun shining above them. 

And then Yuuri dives in for more.

Victor falls back into golden sand under the weight of him, but that is more than alright. His arms wrap around Yuuri's waist, pull him close until Yuuri is fully settled on top of him. Tentacles twist and coil around him, but Victor's mind isn't focused on them for once. Yuuri, for his turn, takes hold of Victor's head – with his flushed cheeks and wet hair and skin that soon will redden from the sun –  and he kisses him as if it was their last.

Victor moans into Yuuri's mouth, runs his hands over the slippery skin. It's bliss. This, he thinks, could be his life forever. This, he knows, is something he wants. This, his heart tells him, is a goodbye. 

He drops one final sweet kiss on Yuuri's lips and rests his head against the sand. Yuuri leans his forehead against his, peering down at him. 

He's stunning, he's beautiful, and... _he's leaving_. 

Victor aches.

"I wish you didn't have to go," he whispers among the crash of the waves.

"I will be back before you notice," Yuuri tells him, apology in his smile.

Victor honestly doubts it, but he lets it rest. It is no time for petty arguments. 

They breathe together for a moment, heart to heart, head to head. And then Yuuri lifts off his body, leaves him cold in the warm sand.

"I will return as soon as I can, Victor," he says, slipping into the water. "I promise."

"Be safe, my love," Victor replies in farewell. 

He sits up and looks at his husband one last time. Yuuri looks back, offers him a smile and a small wave of his hand, and then he swims away. Victor watches him leave, already feeling lonely. 

And then with a flip of ink-black tentacles above the clear ocean waters, he is truly alone. 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wrote The Chapter and yall will kill me on saturday... some of you who read early tomorrow... but I will be dead, I just know it, so ummm... while I still can... I'm sorry? //sweats buckets


	17. Chapter 17

 

 

Victor sits in the sand until the warm breeze dries his skin and hair with its soft hands. The waters of the ocean are as clear as they have been when he saw Yuuri disappear into them. Nothing has changed, and not even that long has passed, yet Victor feels as if he's been sitting there forever. 

Finally, he heaves a heavy, resigned sigh and gathers himself together. He stands up, brushing his hands over himself. Like a memory of Yuuri's touch, sand falls off his naked body. He takes his clothing out of the bag and, even though they are still wet, he pulls on his breeches and shirt. The rich robe he spreads out on the sand to dry in the midday sun. 

And then he leaves.

His first priority is finding a stream, a river, any body of sweet water, for without water a human will not be able to last more than a couple of days. The greenery here is abound with life, which leads him to believe there must be some deeper inland. Birds screech above the trees Victor passes, bugs buzz about his ears, and vines catch on his feet, but he cannot say that the island isn't welcoming. He spots trees bearing fruit, animals scurrying about, and he knows that it's possible to live here.

Yuuri has chosen a good spot to settle down. 

Victor walks around the island seemingly with no hurry. He's aim is to find a source of fresh water, yes, but he is in no rush for it just yet. He picks a ripe oval fruit from one of the low-hanging branches and bites into it. The skin is tart on his tongue, chewy and hard under his teeth, but the middle is soft and sweet, so he spits it all out, cuts the fruit open with his knife and eats the delicious inside. The sticky juice runs down his fingers and he licks them clean, for a second forgetting about Yuuri.

He takes a few more fruits into his bag, and eats another while walking. The sweet juice soothes his throat, easing the dryness that hours of walking in the harsh sun have caused. 

_It's something_ , Victor thinks, _but water would be better_.

He finds a stream not long after. From within the trees he hears a hum of it, the insistent sound of running water. He allows his feet to take him towards where it's coming from, and true enough: the water rushes over the rocks like a goddess of life, clear, merciful, joyous. It runs deeper into the island, where a spring of some sort must be. It will be a good place to settle down when Yuuri returns to him, but for now Victor chooses to stay on the beach and wait for his wayward husband.

Victor kneels to take some into his hands and drinks with greedy gratitude. Once he's had his fill, he splashes some on his face, runs wet hands through his hair. 

_This is it_ , he thinks, this will be his days until a week passes. Loneliness, solitude, water and food, and eyes trained on the unmoving surface of the ocean. 

He heaves a sigh and presses his wet hands to his face. 

 

***

 

A week is far too little time while going about life like normal, but far more than one imagines when waiting for something to happen. Minutes, hours, days, they move as slowly as the clouds across the sky. Simply watching them, and their sisters – stars and the moon – at night, could bring any man to the ends of his wit, so instead of giving into madness, Victor cuts a few gnarly branches of a tree near the beach and practices his nonexistent till now whittling skills.

He gets fairly good at it. At the end of the fifth day after Yuuri has left, he can make bears with claws, rabbits with ears, and even his cats have tails. Victor is hoping he can whittle a squid next, a gift for his husband once he returns. Or, well, an additional gift, because Victor is sure that when he sees Yuuri next, he will not allow him to leave his arms for a long while. He'll gift him his heart and all that is his to give, much like he has that night of their wedding.

He smiles to himself, resting his head against the robe tucked underneath. The beach sand is soft and the light of the fire he's built still hasn't died. The sky is dark now, full of stars, but Victor looks into the ocean as he falls asleep. There, somewhere in the depths, is his beautiful husband... his Yuuri… his...

He awakens suddenly, as if someone shook him into consciousness. He looks about himself, but there is no one on the beach apart from him. The fire continues to flicker and the night is still deep, even when the moon draws long shadows on the sand. The world is calm, but something… something isn't right. 

Victor clutches at the knife he's hidden beneath his robe. The heavy feeling of _wrong wrong wrong_ clings to him like the humid summer air clings to his skin even this late at night. The hair on the back of his neck rises and his arms cover in gooseflesh. 

Yet, still, nothing around him looks any different. 

Until Victor brings the knife out and catches the faint glow of his wrist. 

Surprised, he pulls back the billowy sleeve of his shirt and, yes – the bonding cut shines pure gold. It's his only link to Yuuri now that they have been separated, and to have it do this… 

A shiver of dread runs down Victor's spine. He doesn't want to think of the worst, but his thoughts run faster than he can stop them. The pictures of Yuuri's bloodied, battered body, cut and ripped and torn, flit about Victor's head. He shakes it violently to rid himself of them, but the fear stays in his heart. It's claws are deep and they sink into him with no mercy. 

Victor stands up, unsettled to the core. He looks at the calm, dark waters. Somewhere within, his husband needs him. Of that Victor is sure. 

Should he go…?

Victor swallows through the knot in his throat. If he goes to him, he'll be breaking his word. He's given Yuuri his word that he will stay on the dry land, but… shouldn't this be an exception? Shouldn't Yuuri come first, his safety, his life, before any promise they ever make? Wouldn't Yuuri understand his reasoning? Wouldn't he do the same for Victor?

Victor looks down at his wrist again. It keeps glowing, urgent and bright. 

And that is enough, Victor makes the decision on a rushed breath.

He walks up to the dark waters and steps into the shallows. The chill of them clutches at his calves, his knees, his thighs, and Victor walks in deeper despite it. He's ready to sink down, but before he can give into the pull and turn of the waves, before he can breathe in the water and change, right in front of him the sea spits out white foam high into the sky, and the monster within alongside it.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> most of you figured out that victor will break his promise, but... well. you'll see tomorrow ;3c   
> (or if you're curious, check out [my twitter](https://twitter.com/katzuyas)!)


	18. Chapter 18

 

 

It's so sudden that Victor can't even scream. Water covers his head, pulls him under, and he fights his way back into the shallows. He could've allowed the water to swallow him, since that would not hurt him, he knows, but Yuuri's words ring true in his mind: he would not be able to fight in the water as well as he can on land.

He draws his knife when his knees hit the wet sand and he spins towards the beast, ready to take it down if it attacks. It's huge, even from this far. Victor trembles at the sight of it. It's body coils through the waves like a giant serpent, but the head… oh. That is the most terrifying of all. Horns split upward of a triangular head, coiled and sharp, matching the sharpness of the teeth as long which are as Victor's legs and just as thick. They gleam in the moonlight when the creature opens its jaws to strike.

And strike it does.

But not at Victor.

Despite the size of its body, the monster moves with surprising agility and speed. One moment Victor sees it risen out of the water, but the next its jaws are snapping at an adversary Victor has yet to see in the dark waters.

Relief floods him, so he backs deeper onto the beach. At least while the monster is busy it won't turn its eyes to him. Victor turns away from the fight and kicks sand into the fire to snuff it out. There is no need to alert the monster of his presence here, no need to gain its attention with something as silly as a forgotten fire.

But fire is the smallest of his worries, Victor learns. For as soon as it dies, he realizes that his position will be betrayed to no matter where he goes. His wrist, the one which he cut to promise himself to his husband, glows golden like a beacon guiding lost ships to port. And like that, too, it will guide the monster right to Victor.

Cursing, Victor rips a piece of cloth from the bottom of his shirt to wrap around his wrist. It muffles the light somewhat, but not enough. It still shines through the material and Victor fearfully looks back to the sea.

And it's then that his heart freezes in his chest.

Because there, among the crashing waves, Victor sees the shape he could recognize anywhere. Dark tentacles, dark hair, a golden glow among the darkness of the night… it's Yuuri. It has to be.

And the great monster lunges at him with its terrifying teeth.

Victor's startled cry dies halfway out of his throat when Yuuri dodges the attack.

No, he thinks to himself, knife clutched hard in his hand. _No, no, no._ This _can't_ be happening.

But it is. Powerless, Victor stands on the beach, watching how Yuuri ducks around the monster. He's fast, yes, and for now he seems to be doing well against an adversary of superior build, but Victor knows this can't last. Yuuri will tire. His instincts will dull. He will slow down, and then–

Victor cannot think of what will happen then. He doesn't want to and he doesn't get to. He blinks, only once, and that is enough for those insidious thoughts to become reality. His worst fears come to life right before his eyes and he can do nothing else but watch.

The serpent strikes again.

Yuuri shoots to the side, avoids the teeth, but the monster isn't as stupid as one could think.

While Yuuri swims around its jaws, the great neck twists around and the sharp horns pierce right through him.

Victor's heart freezes inside his chest like a lump of ice and drops into his belly where it melts into dread. Before he can do or think anything other than ' _No, please_ –', the serpent rears its head back in victory and throws Yuuri's body – wet, bleeding, unmoving – into the deep sea. It gives a triumphant roar and, coiling through the waves, disappears into the night.

_He'll sink_ , Victor thinks urgently. Yuuri will sink. Victor needs to save him. He needs to go and pull him out and– _The wound_ , Victor remembers, near tears. He'll need to dress the wound, close it, stop the bleeding– But for that he needs to move, he needs to go, _he needs to_ –

His feet refuse to move.  

"Move, damn it," Victor curses himself, but even then when he hits his thigh with his fist, he feels nothing and his legs remain rooted to the ground. "Why? _Why can't I move?!_ "

He knows why. All his life he's been trained to help the helpless, to rescue those who needed him. And now when someone truly needs him, when he needs to be his best self and save not an unknown person of unknown origin but his own husband, who Victor has no doubt fought the serpent monster to keep Victor safe on the island, Victor cannot help him.

_It's cruel_ , he thinks, _this fate_.

But if it is his fate to stand there helpless, Victor doesn't want it. In all his life, he has never been one to trust his fate blindly. And he will not be doing it now, he decides.

So he fights the fear, swallows down every drop of it that closes up his throat, and he moves. The first step is hard, the second just as much, but the more of them he takes, the easier it becomes. His heart awakens then, too. It breathes life into his lungs, urgency into his veins, and so– Victor runs. He jumps into the water and without waiting a second longer to transform, he swims towards where he'd seen Yuuri sink.

And then he dives in deep.

His lungs hurt until he takes his first breath underwater. It's easier to swim once the change takes hold, but his chest hurts with every breath no matter the ease. Victor flaps his tail to go deeper, faster, harder. Everything is dark, but he can see well thanks to his mer eyes. It only helps that the bonding mark on his wrists lights up the ocean depths before him as he scurries down to find Yuuri.

The descent takes longer than he wants, far too long. Victor tries not to think of Yuuri's body slowly bleeding out on the ocean floor. He doesn't wish to even consider the possibility that sharks may have already been drawn to him, that they could have already divided the body into parts–

Victor's heart hammers in his chest and the blood rings in his ears when he finally spots his husband. He's slumped against a rock on the very bottom, head tilted at an angle that sends a shiver of dread down Victor's spine. Victor swims up to him, taking in the wound torn in his side. It's bleeding blood so dark that it looks black in the faint glow of their bonding marks.

That glow, in the face of everything else, is the only thing that still gives Victor some hope. If it's glowing, it must mean that Yuuri still isn't dead. If it's glowing, there's still a chance to resolve everything that went wrong.

Gently, Victor touches Yuuri's cheek, checks his pulse beneath his jaw. He can't feel anything. Maybe it's nerves, maybe it's mer biology, Victor can't tell. He knows he has to close the wound somehow, but here, at the bottom of the ocean, he doesn't know how. He has no idea how merfolk treat their wounded or whether it's safe to bring Yuuri to shore. His hands shake as he hovers next to his undoubtedly dying husband, as helpless as he was on the beach when he watched him fight.

The flicker of golden light on his wrist catches his eye. The mark flickers again, so Victor quickly unties the scrap he used to block its glow. True enough, it does so once more as if in warning.

_Hurry_ , it seems to say.

Victor doesn't think twice about what to do then. If he does nothing, Yuuri will die for certain. If he tries to stop the bleeding here, Yuuri will most likely die as well, since there is nothing here to help Victor succeed. If he brings Yuuri onto the shore… the possibility of him dying is there, too, but in Victor's mind it's by far his best option.

So that's what he does. He slings Yuuri's unconscious body over his back and ties his wrists so that he doesn't slip. And then he lifts his head towards where the moon shines on the water and swims towards the surface as fast as he can.

Every flap of his tail makes him aware of the time that passes, every breath he takes of the breaths that Yuuri doesn't. But Victor grits his teeth and he keeps on swimming, because it's the only thing he can do now to save him. It's the only thing he can do to keep what is left of his own bleeding heart.

When they finally break the surface, he's already exhausted, but he hauls Yuuri's body onto the sand, making sure that none of his legs touches the water. He doesn't know mer biology enough to help Yuuri like he is now, no. He knows human biology enough to be able to treat him when he changes, though. That is his only chance.

Yuuri's body changes before his eyes. And before his eyes, as well, blood from the open wound in Yuuri's side pours into the sand, dark and thick and sticky. Victor wastes no time in pulling the shirt off his back and ripping it into pieces. He grabs the robe that he left behind on the beach and presses it to the wound, keeping it in place by wrapping it with his ripped shirt. Only then does he rest Yuuri on the sand itself.

There isn't time, he knows, but he leans their foreheads together.

"Stay with me, Yuuri," he begs. "You promised, and I need you to keep that promise now more than ever."

The faint breath on his wet lips is his only reply, but that… that is enough. For now.

So Victor picks himself up, hope pushing his tired limbs past their limits, and he runs inland to find what he'll need to keep his husband alive.  

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yall can start screaming in 3... 2... 1... GO!


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BLOOD WARNING FOR THIS CHAPTER

 

 

Victor returns to Yuuri as soon as he can, but when he runs back through the line of trees his heart still flutters with worry. What if he's too late? What if Yuuri has already–

Victor sinks to his knees in the sand next to his husband, praying to all the gods that cross his mind. He searches Yuuri's neck for the faint beating of his heart and he finds it, much to his relief. It's still there, pulsing under his fingers, but its echo is weak. Fragile. Just like Yuuri himself looks as he lies there, dying. The blood from the wound at Yuuri's side has seeped through the layers of the clothing Victor has pressed into it. It's already been too long. If he takes any longer, Yuuri will bleed out, Victor is sure.

So, knowing there isn't much time left to do what needs to be done, Victor sets down to work. He cuts into the agave leaves he's gathered. The tips are sharp and thin, enough to serve as needles. The first one he cuts he rips apart when he tries to separate the body of the leaf from its point, and he curses while he tries to make another with trembling hands. This time, he's more careful and he succeeds. He tears apart the long, thin grass he's found growing from the dusty sands in the deeper parts of the island. The grass pulls apart in his fingers in thread-like pieces. Victor ties one of them to the needle, hoping desperately that it'll work.

He rests the needle on his bag for a moment, so that he can unwrap the wound. It's sticky with blood and Victor's hands soon bear the mark of it, but he doesn't even bat an eye. He's seen blood before. Human blood, yes. And now, now Yuuri is human, too. What Victor is about to do… he hopes Yuuri's human form will accept. If it fights against him…

Victor doesn't even want to think of what will happen then.

He wipes the skin around the wound as clean as he can with fabric wet in fresh water of the stream. And then he spreads the skin to gaze into the bloody mess within, and he sews.

He's never been clean with his needlework, even though his mother tried to teach him. Victor preferred swords to needles, arrows to threads, armor to clothing. But at this moment, when blood squeezes out onto his fingers whenever he pushes the needle through broken tissue, Victor is thankful for his mother's lessons. He wishes he knew more, paid more attention to her teachings, but…

He pricks his finger, but apart from the awareness of it, he doesn't feel the pain. His fingers slip in all the blood and his breath rushes out of his lungs faster than when he was running across the island to gather everything in time. He wipes his sweaty forehead with his arm.

And like so, he sews.

Long minutes, an hour, then two pass while he's focused on closing the wound in Yuuri's side. When he first saw it, the torn tissue didn't seem to take up so much of Yuuri's body, but now that Victor needs to fasten together inch by precious inch, the wound seems enormous. The horn that made it was just as huge and Victor wonders how it didn't pierce right through Yuuri. Somehow, be it luck or Yuuri's quick thought, it didn't. Victor thanks their lucky stars for it, for if it had, he would never be able to save Yuuri.

Like this, though, there's still a chance.

He's done stitching when the sun peaks over the horizon. The light shines over the beach, over the sickly hue of Yuuri's skin. The bleeding has been held back by the stitches, but Yuuri is far from being safe. There is sickness in blood loss, there is sickness in what comes after.

Victor takes the plants he'd gathered out of his bag without the care for the blood on his hands. He carries one of the stones from around his fire pit to set right next to Yuuri and uses the hilt of his knife to grind everything into a pulp. Once that is done, Victor cleans Yuuri's wound out of the blood that welled onto his skin while Victor worked, and he spreads the paste over the red flesh. He covers it all with another agave leaf.

Then, finally, he sits back.

His hands are bloodied, clothes as well, some smeared even on his face. He's tired, more than he ever remembers being. But all of that... It pales in comparison to the ache in his chest, which grows in power with every stuttered heartbeat that reminds him of why. For now, Yuuri is safe. For now, Victor has done as much as he's able.

For now, the only thing he can do is wait.

The next hours will be crucial. If Yuuri breaks a fever… If his wound gets infected… If his body rejects the threading…

Victor squeezes his eyes shut, withholding a sob. The sun has risen and looks down at them warmly, but Victor feels a bone-deep cold. His hands tremble, still.

He thinks that he should move Yuuri into a more shaded part of the beach, but moving him could rip the stitches. The only other option is to build a shelter over him. That would require Victor to move from Yuuri's side and at the moment… at the moment, Victor can't. His eyes trace every dip of Yuuri's chest, waiting, as if expecting it to stop.

Forgetting about the blood on his hands, Victor runs his fingers through his hair. He tries to hold back the tears, but while the ocean waves crash onto the beach at an even rhythm, he realizes that it's all pointless. Everything. If Yuuri dies, the world won't change. Nothing will feel his death, not the ocean, not the sun, not this island. Not even the monster that did this to him. Only Victor will be left here, staring at his husband's dead body, abandoned on an island that no one knows about. And he'll die here too, then. He's sure of it.

He touches his fingers to the bonding mark that still continues to glow. If the glow dies, if Yuuri's heart stops, Victor is certain that his own will cease its beating as well. After all, they are bonded. What one of them is, the other must match. Or so he believes.

For his own death he's ready, but Yuuri's… Victor looks back to his husband, so pale in the warm sunlight. Yuuri can't die, he decides. He can't.

So Victor sits by his side, bloodied hands come together in a prayer to any god or devil that is willing to lend him their ear. And like that, he waits for what is to come.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't trust me when it comes to deserted island medicine, I pulled it out of a hat but WELP LET'S HOPE IT WORKS FOR VITYA


	20. Chapter 20

 

 

Victor's prayer halts when the midday sun begins to burn his bowed neck. He doesn't want to leave Yuuri alone, but he must, if he wants Yuuri to survive the night. Overexposure to the sun can make his blood turn or give rot enough time to feed on his wound. Victor must build a shelter before nightfall, or else Yuuri's body may grow cold enough in the night to never feel the warmth of day again.

He leaves Yuuri on the beach after pressing a kiss to his temple with trembling lips.

He isn't gone for long. Maybe an hour. Maybe less. But when he arrives back, it feels like he's seeing Yuuri for the first time in days. Yuuri's skin is still terrifyingly pale, but now it begins to redden, too. Victor touches Yuuri's cheek with the back of his hand, and sure enough – Yuuri is burning up. Life-taking fever is getting hold of him.

Victor drops everything he brought with him and, before he begins building the shelter, he dips one of his shirts into the basin of fresh water he's made over the days of his stay on the island. He wrings the fabric and folds it to first wipe Yuuri's face with to somewhat cool it, and then to rest on his forehead. It's the only thing he can do. That, and gently dabbing Yuuris parched lips with another cloth.

It takes him the entire day to build a shelter from both the sun and the nightly chill. The winds at the beach are warm even at night, but to a body fighting against the odds like Yuuri's is anything could be perilous. Victor sits at his side the entire time, unable to sleep, to eat. His only concern is changing the paste on Yuuri's wound and wiping his feverish body with fresh, cool water.

Nightfall catches him like that, and even the moon doesn't change it. The small hut made of branches tied with vines and covered with large leaves is only big enough to fit them both. Victor sits next to Yuuri, but when the day turns to night, the shivers begin. Yuuri needs warmth, Victor knows, so he throws the dirty, bloodied robe over him. But that is hardly enough. Yuuri continues to shudder, and Victor's heart squeezes in his chest at the pure helplessness he feels.

He starts a fire, as big as he can make it without worrying about burning down their hut. It's _still_ not enough. Wasting no time, he lies next to Yuuri and holds him close. His own body is the only source of direct heat that he can warm Yuuri up with. Small gasps and whimpers leave Yuuri's dry lips as he fights against the fever wrecking his body, and Victor swallows his own fear, his tears.

_This_ , he thinks _, is even worse than watching Yuuri fight that monster has been_. Victor is as helpless as he was then. All he can do is hold Yuuri and pray for his recovery, which he does all night through. By the mercy of gods, Yuuri will live, but during the long hours of the night, when Yuuri trembles in his arms, when he whimpers and cries, and Victor cries silently from the fear and the worry, it takes all of his heart to believe that all will be well.

The morning can't come soon enough.

He doesn't sleep a wink that night. When the morning light sneaks between the leaves on the roof of their hut, Victor is as awake as he was before: wide-eyed with fear. _The fever hasn't broken yet._

He stands up to bring more water for Yuuri, but he never gets to the stream. He doesn't even cross the line of trees. Because there, on the brightening horizon, Victor spots a ship. It's white sails are turned towards him as if their goal was this exact island and fear strikes Victor in the heart first.

Who are they? What are they doing here? What do they want?

He stands there, frozen, for quite a moment. But while the fear runs its course, his logical mind begins to work as well. If there are people on board, they must have a medic with them. Or, if not that, then at least someone learned in treating wounds. Someone who can help Yuuri better than Victor with his limited resources. If the captain agrees to take them aboard, maybe Yuuri will recover. Maybe, maybe there is still hope left to carry him through this.

Could this be an answer to all of Victor's desperate prayers?

Victor's breath rushes past his lips like the waves rush onto the beach sand. His eyes turn from the ship, with its white sails and an impressive three-canvas mast, to where a dinghy makes its way towards the island, buoying on the waves. Whoever is in it must see Victor standing there, or maybe it's the fire they spotted in the night, or maybe the hut on the beach from the crow's nest, but they row the dinghy towards the beach where Victor has set camp.

In case anything goes awry, Victor returns to Yuuri's side. He checks his forehead, his cheeks, his neck, but he's still burning with fever. Victor takes a shaky breath, clenches his knife in hand, and grits his teeth. He stands guard until the men in the dinghy pull up to the shore. Then he lifts his knife and waits for them to approach.

"We mean no harm," one of them says, keeping his hands in the open. It could soothe Victor's worries, if not for his companions still resting their hands on the hilts of their swords behind his back. "We saw the flame and we stopped here. Are you shipwrecked?"

"Whose banners do you fly?" Victor asks without answering the man's questions.

"High Highness, prince Jean-Jacques of the Royal House Leroy."

At the words, Victor looks up to squint at the ship. From this far it's hard to see the colours of the banners above the ship's mast, but he thinks he sees the royal blue and purple of the Leroys. It could be something else just as well, though.

"The prince," Victor says, turning back to the men, "if you sail under him, you surely know which hand he favours?"

The man frowns, but answers: "His left, of course."

And Victor breathes freely.

He'd met the prince only once before, thankfully, but he'd noted that detail. Today, he's more than glad for it. He lowers his knife, deciding to trust the prince's good heart and the good heart of his men.

"I am prince Victor of the Royal House Nikiforov," he introduces himself. A little of the truth, and a little of a lie, he thinks as he speaks next: "My husband and I have been caught in a storm. The ship and the crew have all perished. We barely managed to come ashore, but my husband has been wounded. I managed to close the wound as best as I could, but if you have a medic on board, it would mean a lot to me to have him take a look."

The men bow to him, and the one at the front answers: "Of course, your highness. Is he able to move or should we help?"

Relief flooding his heart, Victor nods. "Please."

And when the men bring Yuuri out, Victor's vision darkens, it swims, and he doesn't fall only thanks to the strong arm of the first mate who holds him up. Together, they enter the dinghy, where Victor rests his hand on Yuuri's chest, closes his eyes, and offers prayer to whichever deity has smiled upon them on this day.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> salvation in the form none of yall expected, I bet ;3c  
> just saying but I'm kind of fed up with jj always being a villain ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


	21. Chapter 21

 

 

"Prince Victor, what an unexpected surprise!"

The oldest prince Leroy opens his arms in greeting, which Victor declines in favour of looking after the men who bring Yuuri's unconscious body onboard. So as not to offend their saviour, Victor chooses to swallow his snide words of 'What else could a surprise be but _unexpected?_ ' and offers the prince a hand to shake in a far more familiar gesture than he ever wished to make towards him.

"Thank you for accommodating us on your journey, prince Jean-Jacques," he replies formally. "Your help will never be forgotten by me, nor mine. If you will, I would insist that a medic tends to my husband immediately. He's running a fever and I fear that what I've done to close the wound might not be enough."

"Of course, of course, right away." The prince nods at his men and one of them, an older man with glasses framed in gold, steps up to direct the men carrying Yuuri under deck. "Is there anything else we might offer you? You look like you could use some food. And sleep. Maybe even a wash?"

Victor opens his mouth to decline, but then reconsiders.

"Perhaps all three, yes," he says. "But first I'd like to hear what the medic has to say."

"Understandable," the prince nods. He makes a gesture with his arm, allowing Victor to follow where the men have taken Yuuri. Victor doesn't expect him to join him below deck, but the prince does, chattering away: "If anything so horrible happened to my darling Isabella, I would be out of my mind with worry. I am surprised that you have remained so collected, by gods!"

And when Victor doesn't reply, he keeps going.

"Your husband, prince Victor… I must say I have not heard any news of betrothal or marriage. That might be partly my fault for spending so much time at sea, but is this a recent affair? If I might be so bold... who is he? I trust myself to know the names of all royalty worth Leroys' time, so if he is one such I should be familiar with him. From afar I could not see his face, however, and cannot put a name to a face I have not yet seen, you understand."

"He is not one of us," Victor replies shortly. "It was arranged by my parents, and yes, a fairly recent development. We've only been married a week."

"Goodness gracious!" The prince clutches at his heart as they step down the polished wooden stairs. "Only a week and such luck already… One has to wonder if maybe it's a sign against your match."

Victor bites his tongue so as not to punch the prince of royal blood in his smart mouth. His patience is rewarded when they enter the tiny cabin where Yuuri has been rested on a straw bedding with clean sheets. The medic is bowed over him, pressing hands here and there, opening his mouth, checking his eyes. As both princes stop in the doorway, he moves towards the shelves filled with bottles of different sizes and purposes and picks three.

"Will he be well?" Victor asks, heart in his throat.

"I won't lie to you, your highness, the fever has taken a toll on his body," the medic says, mixing powders from two bottles and adding that to the diluted concoction he pours into a clean cup from the third of the bottles. "You did well at closing the wound, but it wasn't enough. I will give him a tincture against the heat and the infection from the inside, but he will need to fight the rest on his own. If he lives till tomorrow, he'll recover. If he succumbs... it will be soon."

Victor closes his eyes briefly. "Can I stay with him?"  

The medic nods. "If anything happens, call for me, but I do not promise to be of any use if the gods choose to take him."

Victor offers his thanks and, after the medic administers the tincture, he sits at Yuuri's side. He takes Yuuri's hand in his dirty ones. There is blood and dirt under his nails, smeared around his knuckles. Victor doesn't care about it in the least. He's a prince and appearance should be his topmost priority, but ever since meeting Yuuri he hasn't known any other thing of import than him.

And now, when Yuuri's fate is to be revealed, he cannot consider anything else, either.

The prince Leroy and the medic leave him be. Victor doesn't know how much time passes or where the ship is sailing, nor does he care to find out. His fingers settle against the golden scar on Yuuri's wrist, which glows faintly in the merry sunlight that falls through the small windows by the ceiling. Victor's own wrist is glowing as well, which gives him enough hope to keep on breathing.

His solitude is only broken by someone bringing him food and water at measured times of the day, and then another man with a basin of water to wash his hands and face. Victor drinks from a tall glass, but he has no appetite for food. Not while Yuuri lies there, unable to eat or drink or speak. His breathing is Victor's only solace and, once the tincture begins its work, Victor takes notice that every breath seems to come easier. It might be his wishful thinking, but maybe… he hopes, the fever will die.

The night falls while he's resting his forehead against the back of Yuuri's hand. He's pressed his lips to it before and now mouths prayers to the gods, begging them to return his husband to him.

"I promise to care for him," he whispers. "To be the best self I can be to earn his love, his trust. I promise I will never hurt him with words or actions, I will never aim to try. Just, please, bring him back to me."

Moonlight creeps into the cabin and rests its cool hand across Yuuri's face. It's still pale, even paler as the silver light licks over his skin with its unholy glow. Victor touches one of Yuuri's cheeks, full of fear.

And then he shoots up to his feet.

Yuuri's skin is cold.

Not cold like the dead, no. Just… not heated. The fever must have broken.

Victor leans their foreheads together and, indeed, he doesn't feel overt warmth from Yuuri's skin. Yuuri's breath fans over Victor's lips, which tremble in all his immense relief. All will be well, he tells himself as tears fill his eyes. _Yuuri will live._

Unable to hold them back, Victor allows the tears to roll down his cheeks. A few drip onto Yuuri's skin and Victor kisses them away. The salt on his tongue tastes sweet now, the sweetest he's ever experienced, because those are the tears of joy, of life and love, of gratitude and happiness beyond belief.

Heart full with all that, Victor takes a deep breath, knowing that when tomorrow comes, all will be well.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did promise you a happy ending, didn't I? never doubt me, friends 😉


	22. Chapter 22

 

 

Yuuri's eyes open on the morning of the third day of their stay on prince Leroy's ship. Victor has bathed since then, changed his ripped clothes, washed his hair. He cleaned Yuuri's body as best as he could as well, and clothed him properly. Apart from the short breaks for that, food, water and relieving himself, Victor remains stubbornly at his side, even though nothing threatens Yuuri's life any longer. So that when Yuuri awakens from his ordeal, Victor is the first thing he sees.

And so when he awakens, when it finally happens, Victor is the first one to whisper: "Thank the gods, you're back."

"What–"

Yuuri's voice breaks and Victor scrambles to bring him water. He gently holds the waterskin to his lips. Yuuri takes a few small sips before he tries again.

 "What happened?" he asks.

"You don't remember?" Victor sets the skin down, unable to tell whether he's glad for it or dreading what he needs to say. Yuuri only looks at him, brows furrowed. "Back at the island, you fought a monster. I don't know what it was… a serpent? A dragon?" Victor shakes his head. "It impaled you with its horn. I brought you to shore and dressed your wound, but if it wasn't for the medic of this ship, the fever would've taken you. I–"

Now his own voice breaks and Victor has to bite his lip to withhold a whimper. He looks away, but Yuuri's hand falls on his, and so he turns back to gaze at his husband.

"I thought I would lose you," Victor admits in a feeble whisper.

Yuuri's fingers gently squeeze his. Victor slides them together and bows over to rest a kiss on them. He stays bowed even after. It's too hard to face Yuuri with a brave front, far too hard after everything he's been through while Yuuri remained unconscious. Victor isn't strong enough to do so. He just isn't.

Yuuri's other hand touches his head, tender, soft, reassuring. Victor's eyes fill with tears.

"I'm sorry," Yuuri whispers in a voice hoarse from disuse. "When I was scouting the island, I never saw any signs of the sea dragon. No lair, no eggs, no markings... This is all my fault."

At that, Victor can no longer hide. He lifts his head up to see Yuuri's lips drawn in a line, angry and harsh. Without thinking twice, he touches the corner of Yuuri's lips with his thumb, and smiles when Yuuri turns his stormy eyes towards him.

_God_ , Victor's heart flutters, _he is so beautiful even in anger_ …

"You couldn't have known," Victor tells him gently. "None of this was your fault. I don't blame you and neither should you. Just… just be glad you're alive, Yuuri, like I am."

"But I put you in danger," Yuuri insists.

"When? I was in no danger at all!" Victor shakes his head. "The only one who endangered himself was you. And I stood by, watching you fight that monster, unable to do anything to help you. I should be the one apologizing–"

" _No_. No, you shouldn't," Yuuri interrupts him. He tries to sit up, but Victor presses a hand to his chest before he can.

"You'll rip the stitches," he warns. "You need to stay in bed."

Yuuri gives an annoyed little breath, but doesn't argue about that. Instead, he says:

"Very well. But I will not allow you to take any blame for this. There was nothing you could've done in the water, like I told you before. And if you came to my rescue, who knows if we wouldn't have traded places. If we had, I don't know if I'd have the skill to save you, like you did to me. This... this was for the best, Victor."

"It was only luck and the grace of gods, not my own skill." Victor shakes his head.

Yuuri squeezes his fingers. "If not for your skill, gods would not have the mercy to give to us. So thank you, Victor. I owe you my life."

Victor laughs at that, bitter and incredulous, but it is his first laugh in days, so he takes cruel pleasure in it. When Yuuri frowns, he shakes his head once more, and kisses Yuuri's hand. He takes a deep breath to calm the storm in his heart before he speaks again.

"You owe me nothing, my love," he says, smiling up at his husband, "for we have already made our vows and what's mine is yours, even if it's our lives."

And Yuuri, sweet, darling Yuuri, smiles back at him the smile that Victor feared for so long he would never get to see again. Relief strikes him so hard that when he stands up to fetch the medic, his knees buckle under him and he stumbles. He hushes Yuuri's worried cry and crawls to the deck to share the good news.

The medic checks Yuuri's vitals, gives him another concoction to drink, and orders rest and food. Lots of both to keep his blood running and to allow his body to heal. Victor promises to make sure Yuuri doesn't overtax himself, and with that they are left alone in the tiny cabin again.

Instead of taking his place on the stool next to Yuuri, Victor settles on the bed. He puts his head on Yuuri's chest, while Yuuri sinks his fingers in his hair, soothing and comforting enough that Victor doesn't know when the subtle heartbeat and faint rise and fall of Yuuri's chest lull him to sleep.

He dreams of the water, dark and terrifying, and of coiled tails and horns, of monsters and blood...

When he awakens, Yuuri is asleep as well. It's only the ease of his breathing that keeps Victor from thinking the worst. Despite that, though, for the rest of the night – for that is what the day has turned into while Victor slumbered – Victor can't return back to sleep. He spends it watching Yuuri's face, memorizing the shape of his lips, counting his eyelashes, and drawing constellations by joining the faint freckles on his nose and cheeks.

And when Yuuri wakes up in the early morning hours, Victor smiles at his smile and kisses his lips, sweetly, and with all the love that thrums in his heart. Yuuri kisses him back, full of the same softness. They trade kisses one after another, as if they could not get enough, but their kisses remain tender. There is no passion in them, not after everything they've been through. This closeness, this softness, is only meant to heal their hearts enough to greet the new dawn with hope.

And when the sun peeks into the cabin and lights up the world with its warmth, Victor whispers against his husband's mouth:

"Good morning, love."

And it is. One of many that they will greet together, he's sure.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there we go, all the floof to let yall's hearts heal ❤️


	23. Chapter 23

 

 

Prince Jean-Jacques' ship sails towards the port town of Nivelle, where the direct trading with Lesnya, the kingdom Victor's father's father's have built once upon a time, has taken place for many a decade now. The two crowns, of Lesnya and Taneir, have entered a treaty when Victor was but a wee boy. The royal families were far from close friends, but to honour the peace between their nations, they tolerated each other as best as possible at all official functions. Under the rule which upheld the treaty, their lands prospered through mutual trade, and both families reaped the rewards that came with it in heaps: those of riches and the love of their people.

Now, those stilted relations have helped save Victor's husband. With gratitude in his heart, Victor offers his most sincere thanks to the prince Leroy, but the prince only laughs off his platitudes.

"None of that, my friend," he says, as if they indeed have become close.

He claps Victor on the back, unaware of the annoyance that springs in Victor at that. Victor says nothing, though, for it would not do to repay the prince's kindness with rudeness.

"Anyone would do what I've done. I require no thanks for simply fulfilling my duty to gods and to my good friends at Lesnya."

And maybe Victor would believe the goodwill of prince Leroy, if the sneaky smirk didn't cross his face as soon as he finished speaking.

"Just remember that when we next sit down to talk trade," the prince adds, patting Victor on the back and laughing as if he made a good joke.

It leaves a bad taste in Victor's mouth, but then again… he doesn't think he will ever take part in trade negotiations again. He left his country, left his home. At his parents' wishes, no less. He will never be returning to Lesnya, so he will never be at the annual trade meeting held in the grand hall in his parents' palace.

That thought somehow brings him the much needed relief.

He returns to Yuuri's side, lighter at heart. His husband has not left the medic's cabin and has not spoken to any of the crew, be it for his shy nature, his unfamiliarity with humans, or simply his still fragile health. Victor has spent every moment next to him, telling him stories he's heard as a baby, spinning new ones, and once that began to bore them, he started to tell Yuuri of his life before they met. He retold the many moments of his life as he lived it in his parents' palace: the times of joy, those of sadness and anger, those of despair and cruelty. And when his throat ran dry, Yuuri replied with the same.

Throughout the two weeks of their journey to Nivelle, they grew closer. They shared dreams with each other, their hopes and fears.

"I have always been afraid that I'm not good enough to be a prince," Yuuri confesses one day while they lie together under the light of the setting sun. "I never wanted to be someone others looked up to. I never felt… I never felt confident enough to be what they wanted me to be."

"Do you feel that now, too?" Victor presses a kiss into Yuuri's hair. It smells of the sea, still, as if the sea was an intrinsic part of Yuuri, one that could never be separated from him even in his human form. "Chris has spoken of you with high regard. I am sure that others think of you like that as well."  

"It does not diminish my fear, however," Yuuri admits quietly. "It's still here, you know. Maybe even stronger when they place all those expectations on me. I'm not sure… I don't know if I can meet them."

Gently, Victor asks: "But you'll try to?"

Yuuri doesn't reply for a moment. He rests his hand against Victor's heart, listens to his breathing. He draws a circle on his bare chest with a lazy finger, pokes it, and rests his palm flat on Victor's heart once more before he answers:

"Yes."

"Then no one will ever laugh at you, my love," Victor says. "Just like no one laughs at those who try their best against disfavoring odds. You may struggle, you may fail, but as long as you get up and fight again against even life itself as it tries to bring you down, no one will scorn that effort. I know I won't. In my eyes," Victor lifts Yuuri's chin up to allow their eyes to meet, "there is nothing more beautiful than that."

Yuuri's cheeks flush under his loving gaze. He closes his eyes for a moment, as if touched by Victor's words just like Victor himself has been touched by his resolve. When he opens them again, the brown that looks into Victor's eyes is warmed by the sun and the love they both share.

"You are the most incredible person I have ever met," Yuuri tells him then, and Victor chuckles.

He runs his thumb over Yuuri's sweet cheek. "No, darling, that's _you_."

Yuuri's quiet laughter fills their little cabin with happiness.

And wrapped in it like so, they arrive at the port in Nivelle.

Yuuri's wound has healed enough to pull the stitching out a day before they dock. The flesh around it is still red and tender, and Noah warns them that should Yuuri move too much it's possible that the wound might open again, but he can resume normal activity. After so long in bed Yuuri is unsteady on his feet when he first stands and it doesn't help that he has never truly accustomed himself to walking. Victor offers him his arm whenever possible, to give Yuuri comfort and support, but also to feel him lean into his side as they walk.

He does so on that final day, too, as they make their way across deck towards the plank that leads safely to ground. There, Victor stops, and offers his final thanks to the prince and the medic. Yuuri gives a shallow bow to give his thanks as well, and once done – they step off the ship.

The port is bustling with life as ports usually do. Yuuri holds onto Victor's arm with tight, nervous hands, and Victor smiles at him every time he looks his way to calm his obvious fears.

"Welcome to my world, love," Victor says.

A carriage passes by and Yuuri almost jumps out of his skin at the sight of horses, the carriage, and the man snapping a whip with a loud crack.

"When can we leave?" Yuuri asks, fretfully flitting his wide eyes left and right. 

Victor chuckles. "Are you in such a hurry to become one with the water again?"

"It's been weeks…" Yuuri demurs, but Victor kisses his cheek before he can grow defensive about it.

"I know, darling, and I'm sorry for it. I promise I will not keep you away from it any longer, if you promise me in return to be careful not to irritate your wound?"

"I promise. Of course I do," Yuuri quickly replies.

Eyes filled with hope peer at Victor, and Victor realizes then and there that there is nothing he would not agree to if Yuuri looks at him like so.

"Then we will wait till nightfall," Victor decides, nodding. He squeezes Yuuri's hand. "And then we'll go home."

The brilliant smile Yuuri gives him is brighter than the sun that shines above their heads and warmer than the fire itself. Victor presses his lips against it, defeated, and smiles just as wide.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sweets, sweets all around! you want some? here's more for you! 😉


	24. Chapter 24

 

 

They spend the day at the docks, admiring ships and waiting for the sky to darken. Once it does, Victor needs to hide his laughter at the way Yuuri tugs him towards the closest shore. They walk down the length of the pier until the lights from the taverns and port houses are nothing but small flecks against the night. There, at last, they make it to the very end where the water meets the wooden platform.

Victor helps Yuuri lower himself from the pier and, kneeling, holds his hands as Yuuri changes. Yuuri hisses when the sea bites into his wound with its salty teeth, but he settles once the magic takes hold. His features change into his beautiful cecaelia form right before Victor's eyes. Smitten, as he always is with his husband, Victor brushes a tender hand against the dark skin that blooms on the side of Yuuri's neck.

"Come," Yuuri trills, pulling on Victor's hands. Victor answers him with a smile.

He is about to slip into Yuuri's waiting arms, ready to become one with the water as well, when a wooden board somewhere behind them squeaks. The noise would not have been odd in and of itself, but within the darkness of the night it rises the hair on Victor's nape. With practiced speed, he drops Yuuri's hands and twists around, one hand falling onto the hilt of his knife.

"Who's there?!" Victor calls, ready to draw the blade.

Like an omen of bad will, a devil in human flesh, a men steps out of the darkness as if he was made of it. He smiles, and the white of his teeth is terrifying among the night, glowing the like the moon's crooked twin.

"Prince Victor," he greets with a bow. "I have been tasked with a message for you."

A shadow, Victor guesses the man's nature. _The herald of kings._

As Victor sits on one knee, frozen still in vigilance, he knows who must have sent him. But, no matter what circumstance has made him do so, he has no will to listen further.

"Whatever my father wants, I want nothing to do with it," he says before the shadow can rely his message. "He sold me to my husband for peace at sea and gold in his treasury, so now he has no claim to me any longer. I belong to my husband now, not him. Never again."

"Then allow me to direct this to your royal proprietor, your highness."

The shadow flickers as if he wishes to step forward, but Victor tenses up, ready to lunge at him, and he solidifies again. The whites of his eyes move beyond Victor to where Yuuri's head peaks above the pier.  

"Your highness," the shadow addresses him, "prince Victor's father requests his presence at his quarterly court. There is a matter of war to be discussed and as the sole heir and future king, His Royal Highness wishes to bestow the honour of leading the fight to his son."

"No," Victor replies before Yuuri can say anything else. "I will not do it. _I refuse_. Take that to my father as my official reply."

He doesn't look away from the shadow as he speaks, but when water splashes behind him as Yuuri lifts himself up to the pier again and rests a wet hand against his thigh, Victor turns towards. Yuuri peers into his eyes. Victor can't know what he sees in them, what sort of wretched look he must sport, but it must truly be something, for when Yuuri levels his gaze on the shadow his jaw is set.

"Take that to his father as _our_ official reply," he repeats Victor's words, hard and unwavering.

Since shadows are only messengers until they are paid for more, this one bows to their will.

"I have relayed what I've been tasked with," he says. "And now I will return your reply to His Majesty. What he shall do with it… hm."

He says nothing else, but grins, and simply dissolves into the darkness of night once again. Victor knows what he meant, though. His father could take up arms against Yuuri, against the very sea itself, claiming that Victor is being kept hostage by monsters. And he would have the people's support. After all, who would not rally behind a noble cause like saving their prince from the grasp of a beast?

Victor shudders in the night.

"You fear him," Yuuri says, and it is not a question.

Victor breathes deeply before he rests his hand against Yuuri's. "I don't fear him as a person. I fear his power and all the ways he can abuse it towards his gain. I fear the consequences of denying him."

"Should we have agreed to his wishes then?"

Yuuri's voice is gentle, but Victor shakes his head as if he argued for it with his entire heart on the line.

"If I go to war, Yuuri, there is a possibility I won't return," Victor says. "If I go, I won't be able to take you with me. You will have to remain in my parents' palace, or else at camp behind the battle lines. I can't risk your safety like that, and I can't risk mine either."

He pauses. His eyes wander towards the bonding marks on their wrists.

"Tell me, Yuuri…" He brushes his thumb against his husband's wrist. "Would you die if I die? Would I, should you? Is the bonding magic that strong?"

Yuuri doesn't answer immediately, but finally he nods. "It's possible. I haven't heard of any bond between newlyweds that could do this so soon, but it is not unusual for those who have been together for years to die within a short time of each other. The bond, you see, it ties our souls together, just as it ties our lives. When one is lost, the other loses its anchor to this world and soon follows to join them in another."

"Then that is all the more reason for me not to adhere to my father's selfish wishes any longer," Victor decides. "I cannot put my life at risk knowing that I would be putting yours as well. It's better this way. Let him deal with his own wars, I have no interest in them."

"Let's go then." Yuuri's tentacles spring him back into the lake, where he splashes as he turns to face Victor. He offers him his hands again, which Victor readily takes. "Let's go home."

This time, with no further trouble, Yuuri pulls Victor into the water. They slip under together and Yuuri joins their foreheads as Victor breathes his first. His feet change into a tail, his eyes adapt to the darkness. He smiles at Yuuri when everything is finished and Yuuri sweetly smiles back.

"Let's go," Victor agrees.

They leave the night port town of Nivelle behind, swimming towards the unknown waters. No, not unknown, Victor corrects himself, reaching for Yuuri's hand. _Home._

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I mentioned trouble, didn't I? ;3c 
> 
> too bad it's only fleeting and will never ruin their peaceful lives again


	25. Chapter 25

 

 

"Our kingdom is very likely different from what you're used to," Yuuri tells him when Victor asks. "We do not have stone caves like you, or ships. Or beds of straw and sheets."

"Haven't we slept in caves before? On pillows of seaweed and beds made of stone?" Victor smiles at him. "I'm sure it won't be anything I couldn't handle. As long as we're together."

He takes Yuuri's hand, and Yuuri allows it, turning his palm to meet him halfway. It warms Victor's heart to have him be so open to affection now, while before he blushed at every sign of closeness. It was sweet, and Victor misses his flushes at times, but this intimacy they share now when they look into each other's eyes is something Victor would not trade for anything else.

"We will stay with my parents, I'm afraid," Yuuri answers, smiling as if he knows Victor's thoughts and shares them, too. "Young merfolk don't leave their homes before they're bonded, so I have not yet found anything else for myself, or for us. The island…"

Yuuri brushes his other hand over the still healing wound at his side. The flesh is tenderly pink and even red in places, but everything is healing nice, Noah has said. Victor hopes that the saltwater will not slow the process, but even if it does, once they are in the sea kingdom, Yuuri will be able to wrap himself in the magic that lingers in those ancient depths and heal fully.

Still, the very memory of the island Victor has almost lost him on makes him grow cold.

"We will never go back there," Victor says, then looks back up to Yuuri's face. "Please tell me we won't."

Yuuri shakes his head. "We won't. I promise."

Victor breathes, relieved. He turns to the side to rest his head against Yuuri's shoulder, and breathes again.

"Good," is all he says.

And that is all they ever speak about the island again. Instead of that, Victor asks Yuuri to tell him more about the sea kingdom, with all its caves, all its mysteries, all its people. So Yuuri spins the tales while they make their journey to the depths of the ocean. More than that, too, he teaches Victor the proper greetings, the words to use, the gestures.

He cups Victor's jaw. "This is for stop, but gently."

"This is for when you apologize." Yuuri shows Victor an elaborate bow that Victor practices until Yuuri deems it acceptable.

"And this," Yuuri says as he rests his forehead against Victor's chest, "is please, but when you're desperate. When you beg."

Victor nods, smiling, and drops a kiss to the crown of Yuuri's head.

"Then this," he asks, pulling Yuuri's face up so that he can rest their foreheads together, "is I love you, yes?"

The sweet flush that takes to Yuuri's cheeks at Victor's question should be enough of an answer, but Victor waits for the words and delights in the cuteness of his husband. He truly is _so_ lucky…

"It is, yes," Yuuri finally admits, hushed, yet lovely.

"I like it, this gesture," Victor tells him. "It's simple, but so expressive. Very much like a kiss."

"You do that often, don't you?" Yuuri asks. At Victor's confused gaze, he explains further: "You, humans. And kissing, I mean. I've, well, I've noticed that you do that often. Is it something characteristic of you as an individual or is it the same for all humans?"

Victor hums. "I believe most humans like it. I have never heard anyone complain if the person they did it with was someone they felt something for."

"And you?" Yuuri presses.

"Me?" Victor's lips quirk in a grin. "Oh, I love it! Especially when it's kissing you. And from now on... _only_ kissing you."

Which he does without waiting a second longer. Yuuri makes a small noise of surprise, but it dies in his throat when Victor deepens the kiss. Answering him with as much passion, Yuuri pulls him closer not even a breath later.

In such sweetness and pure bliss they travel through the underwater world. At some point they pass a school of fish, at another an entire colony of jellyfish, and once even a whale behind whom Victor hides to catch Yuuri into his arms on the other side of the huge creature. Their laughter rings in the water, heralding their arrival to all manner of creatures.

It's only after a week that they reach where they must.

And when they do, Victor cannot help his awe. His mouth drops open at the sight of the reef that is bigger than the mountains that lie north of the Lesnyan capitol. Victor has never seen anything that big, and nothing that could house so many caves. From afar, the reef looks almost like a beehive – with its many openings and merfolk coming and going like busy, busy bees.

The tails of the many mers he can see are colourful and glimmer with some inherent light like his own does. They, however, still pale in comparison to the reef, which sprouts every single colour Victor can think of. There's browns and blues, pinks and yellows and oranges, and green over there, and more purple here, and white, and grey, and black and red, and so many more that Victor's mind spins as he tries to take it all in.

_It's incredible._

"So..." Yuuri pauses at his side, nervous enough that his tentacles twitch with uncertainty. "This is home. Do you, um… do you like it?"

With a grin that hurts his cheeks, Victor turns to him and takes his hand. He presses his lips to the bond mark on Yuuri's wrist, and says, feeling the truth in every word:

" _I love it._ "

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guys, I promise, there will be nothing but softness and spice in this fic from now on. don't distrust me so much ydtcuyvibugjhn


	26. Chapter 26

 

 

Yuuri holds Victor's hand as they swim towards the reef. They enter one of the caves, and like before when he took in the magnificence of the reef itself, Victor now looks around wide-eyed as Yuuri guides him deeper into the cave, which isn't a cave in reality, but simply an entrance to a net of tunnels that lead deep into the mountain. The tunnels stretch high and wide, they link together and tempt with dark corridors, but Yuuri guides them with a confidence of many, many years of swimming through them. And what he guides them to… Oh. That Victor could not imagine at all.

Because once they leave the tunnels, right before Victor's eyes spreads the true sea kingdom, the heart of it that lies hidden inside the reef mountain. Tall buildings of white stone – which reminds Victor of pearl, but that cannot be, no...? – are raised everywhere in sight. Some fat, some lean, some with storeys and some with towers.

They are beautiful, stunning, marvellous. Victor has never seen anything like that.

Even more so, when Yuuri leans over to ask, "Can you see them glow?"

And Victor can. He needs to strain his half-human eyes, but true enough – the stone gives a faint pearlescent glow, part white, part pink, part purple. It's glorious.

"What is it?" Victor asks, awed.

"Polished pearl," Yuuri answers, smiling at Victor's childlike wonder. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"

Victor nods, still unable to look away. "Very."

Merfolk pass them by as they slowly make their way through the city. For that is what it must be, Victor believes. Mers of different shapes and sizes and colouring bow to them on during their swim through the wide lane, which seems to be the main street. From it spin many others, smaller, narrower, diving between the buildings and coiling like snakes.

Or tentacles, Victor thinks, and looks back to his Yuuri who grows ever more nervous under the stares they earn simply by being there. Since he knows well how that feels, Victor takes Yuuri's hand and pulls him along faster. There will be more time to sightsee later. Now… now they have more important things to do.

He doesn't know where to go, but when he hesitates, Yuuri takes the lead again. He brings Victor right to the very archway of a building that sits high up the slope of the main street. This one is slightly different from the others. Shells embellish the columns, rich and shining like gems. As they pass by under the bow of the arch, Victor notes the brilliant paintings that cover the pearlescent surface – some of the sun and the sea, others of the moon and the stars, and then more of the merfolk and their queens and kings. Gods of their world, must be.  

"Yuuri? Aquaius, bless his soul... It really is you! Toshiya, Toshiya, come quick! Yuuri is back!"

Victor hears Yuuri's mother, or who he thinks is Yuuri's mother, before they even enter what must be the palace proper. The grandeur of this building stands out among all others, so Victor believes it must be. He isn't wrong, as he comes to find out, when Yuuri's mother, then father, come around the corner and swarm them right beneath the archway.

"Oh, Yuuri, darling, I'm so happy to see you!" Yuuri's mother touches her son's cheeks and brings their foreheads together. "We didn't expect you back so soon. Didn't you say that you'd be gone at least a couple moontides?"

Yuuri, slightly uncomfortable, answers: "Things have changed."

"Changed? What do you mean?"

His mother's worry is obvious, just as is Yuuri's discomfort, so Victor steps in to mediate.

"I begged Yuuri to see the place he was born, you see," he says, smiling when all their eyes turn to him. "The island he picked was lovely, but I couldn't resist. This is such a beautiful kingdom. I have never seen anything like it."

"You're so sweet." Yuuri's mother smiles back. She touches Victor's cheek gently, eyes searching his for something. "Christophe has told us your name, but we were never sure how to pronounce it. Would you mind…?"

Victor shakes his head. "Not at all. In fact, please forgive my lack of manners. I should've introduced myself sooner. I am Victor, prince of the Royal House of Nikiforov from the land of Lesnya. It is an honour to meet you again, and an even greater one to be married to your son."

He offers Yuuri's parents a bow, just like Yuuri has taught him.

"Oh, oh," Yuuri's mother croons.

She takes Victor by the cheeks and pulls him up so that they can lean their foreheads together. Victor blushes, but a smile touches his lips despite it.

"Welcome, Victor," she repeats Victor's name in a stilted way, but it's still kind enough of her to even try. Victor already thinks of her fondly for it. "We are all too happy to have you here with us, as I'm sure is our son." She looks to Yuuri, who nods with a precious little smile. "You do us a great kindness by bringing him here again. Thank you."

"There is no need to thank me, I am just as happy to be here," Victor answers, and the queen pats his cheek adoringly.

"You boys getting along?" Yuuri's father asks, looking from one to another. Victor and Yuuri share glances before they both grin and nod, Victor with pride in his eyes, Yuuri blushing sweetly. "Good, good. Come on in then, let's not stand in the hall."

They enter the palace, hand in hand.

_This_ , Victor thinks as he looks around, _is where Yuuri grew up_.

The halls are spacious, filled with water and strange creatures the likes of which Victor has never seen before. Every surface is embellished with colourful shells, paintings, seaweed woven into tapestries. It's all beautiful, grand, stunning.

Victor's mouth remains parted in awe even when the queen chuckles at him for it. He cannot help it, after all. He's seen many impressive sights in his father's palace, but this? This has crossed whatever idea of beauty he coined on dry land. This, to Victor's mind, is what true magnificence should be: the joining of riches and power, with humbleness and sweetness, and love.

And when Victor looks to Yuuri and his family, that is exactly what he sees.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> //sighs in bliss


	27. Chapter 27

 

 

They are settled in a room high up in the east tower of the palace. Yuuri's parents leave them alone after they give Victor a tour of the rooms and the waterways, for that is what the corridors and streets are called in this kingdom, and once they get their fair share of Victor's smiles, too.

He cannot stop smiling at them, frankly. They chatter at him enough to cause Yuuri's tentacles to twitch with embarrassment, but to Victor it is all the sweeter for it.

Hiroko and Toshiya – as they demand to be called until he's ready to use mother and father, which has Victor blushing every time he thinks about it –  they have, within the short time of knowing him, accepted him in a way that has warmed his heart to them forever. Victor has no doubt about it.

"Your parents are so kind! I cannot put in words how much it means to me to have their acceptance given so freely," Victor shares his thoughts with Yuuri while they swim their way up to the room at the top of the tower. "Is it because Chris has done such good work at selling me to them, or is it your doing, perhaps?"

Yuuri looks over his shoulder with a smile. "Oh no, I had nothing to do with that. And I don't believe they would trust Chris blindly. He is quite famous for his silver tongue around these waters."

"What then?" Victor wonders.

"Have you ever thought it could just be you?" Yuuri's smile is sweet where it softens his face. "That you and only you are the reason people accept you with as much warmth as they do?"

Victor hums. "I have always known how to charm the crowds and how to win people over, but I haven't even tried anything on your parents, and they _still_ have welcomed me like this."

"That's because they have seen who you truly are. A kind man, a good soul. Someone they can trust. Someone," Yuuri adds, swimming up to Victor to take his hand and kiss his knuckles, "that I love."

Warmer at heart than ever, Victor makes a sound of utter adoration. It spooks Yuuri, it must, for he rips away from him with a fierce blush. He leaves Victor there and begins to swim up the tower waterway.

He's too precious, his Yuuri, Victor thinks as he follows after him.

He catches up with a few powerful flips of his tail and takes Yuuri's hand once more with a smile. Yuuri smiles back, and together they swim into their room.

Spacious and bright, it spreads before them like a temple. The very same shelled, painted, draped with seaweed tapestries walls greet them, but more than those, the columns that support a stunningly carved round ceiling stand open to the vastness of the sea that surrounds them as if to remind them they are a part of a much bigger, much older whole.  

Once again in awe, Victor takes in the rest of the room.

There is nothing else there apart from a bedding of the softest seaweed tucked at the feet of a glowing wall. He looks at the tapestries, one of the sea kingdom, and the other of the stars, so unusual for the people living underwater. It would prove to show that Yuuri's fascination with the world above is not only Victor's achievement. In truth, as he looks at the paintings of the cliffs and trees, and birds – birds! of all things, those that are a symbol of freedom – Victor feels as if he was not the reason for this marriage but a solution to Yuuri's yearning for the world unknown.

Anyone else could be disappointed at such a discovery, but Victor only swims up to the open terrace that stares out into the city. It's beautiful and, he can tell, it fascinates him as much as Yuuri is fascinated by Victor's world.

"Do you like it here?" Yuuri asks suddenly, as if he can read Victor's thoughts.

"Is mind reading another perk of our bond?" Victor asks back, only partly teasing.

"Not that I know of," Yuuri replies. He cocks his head to the side, considering. "Why?"

Victor shakes his head with a smile. "I was just thinking about how much I enjoy learning about your country and people. I would love nothing more than to stay here forever."

Yuuri smiles back at him.

"Maybe not forever," he says, taking Victor's hand, "but for a while. Until we figure out where to go next. Is that acceptable to you?"

"More than." Victor smiles as he pulls Yuuri closer and leans their foreheads together. "Nothing would make me happier."

Yuuri's other hand comes up to rest against Victor's cheek. Yuuri kisses him softly, all too aware of his sharp teeth. But in this form, Victor's are just as sharp. So, using that to his advantage, Victor kisses Yuuri back harder, deeper, more demanding. And Yuuri… Yuuri opens up to him like a clam as it reveals it's beautiful insides, slowly at first and then all at once.

"We have a new bed," Victor breathes against Yuuri's mouth, wet and hot, "how about we try it out?"

Yuuri's brow wrinkles as he struggles to understand. "Try it…?"

Victor chuckles. He drops a kiss between Yuuri's eyebrows, another one to his nose, and then one more to his lips. He pulls Yuuri towards the bed, where he lies on the soft seaweed and tugs Yuuri to lie on him. His hands skim Yuuri's sides, caress the skin of his back, and slide lower in clear invitation.

At Yuuri's potent blush, Victor grins.

"This is what I mean to try," Victor says, slipping his hands to the place where Yuuri's body splinters into tentacles, which makes Yuuri shudder against him in a way that is utterly delightful. "Teach me about this body? About yours, about mine… Let's learn together."

"I don't know if I'm the right person to teach anyone about that," Yuuri answers.

His eyelashes flutter shut so sweetly that Victor feels his heart burn with the strength of his love.

"Yuuri, my love… look at me," Victor pleads. Beautiful brown eyes lift to meet his, despite the embarrassment that has coloured Yuuri's cheeks. "You," Victor tells him, "are the only one I ever want to teach me. Now and always."

The light that enters Yuuri's eyes at Victor's words is brilliant as much as it is terrifying, because when Yuuri's clawed fingers tighten on Victor's scaled hips, Victor knows he's about to be fucked, and fucked good.

And he can _barely wait for it_.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> onto spice we go, friends! ahoy, adventure!


	28. Chapter 28

 

 

Yuuri's kisses are sharper than ever once Victor awakens his drive. They leave marks across Victor's skin: on his neck, on his collarbones, on his chest. Even on his wrist, when Victor touches Yuuri's face and Yuuri snatches his hand to press his lips against the pulse point and mark Victor as truly his.

This is different from how careful they both were on their wedding night. It's different from the soft passion of the kiss they shared before Yuuri left Victor on the island. This, now, is dark need and want, possessiveness and love so full that it's impossible to be gentle.

And Victor loves it.

He drags his nails over Yuuri's arms, over his back, wherever he can reach to mark him back. Yuuri sucks on the skin of Victor's neck with an eagerness of a child. It doesn't take long until all of Victor's flesh is flushed pink from his ministrations. Victor's breathing is laboured and he writhes beneath Yuuri, wishing he still had his legs to wrap them around Yuuri's waist. Since he has only his tail, he uses his hands to caress Yuuri's body. He runs them down his sides, down the base of his tentacles which are as thick there as Victor's thighs. Victor squeezes at them, thumbs the slippery flesh, and Yuuri groans encouragements into the skin of Victor's chest, which he now is peppering with kisses and bites.

"Yuuri…" Victor gasps at another bite and shivers wildly when the pleasure fills him. "Here, love. Try it here."

Victor guides Yuuri's head towards one of his pert nipples. Yuuri's lips close around it, gentle at first. He sucks at it, slowly rolls his tongue over the nub. Victor trembles and moans, and then cries out from the shock of pleasure when Yuuri's teeth bite around his nipple.

"Did that hurt?" Yuuri asks in a voice so thick with desire that Victor has to bite on his lip not to moan just from hearing it.

"A little," Victor admits. He runs a hand through Yuuri's hair and looks down into his lust-filled eyes. "But I like it. Do it again, please."

The smirk Yuuri gives him is as sharp as his teeth. Victor shudders in expectation, but before Yuuri complies with further pleasure, he first nuzzles into Victor's chest. His nose gently bumps into Victor's swollen nipple, then he brushes his lips on it, only to finally lap at it like a kitten: softly, lightly, briefly. Victor moans, unable to hold back.

"I didn't know you were so sensitive here," Yuuri says with wonder.

One of his tentacles lifts to poke Victor's other nipple. It rubs on it, and then sucks on Victor's chest where the small suckling warts cover the underside of Yuuri's leg. Victor twitches, mouth open on a gasp.

"Human body is a never ending mystery to me," Yuuri whispers and tongues at Victor's nipple. The other one is encircled with the tip of Yuuri's tentacle, and it's pulled, pulled until Victor's back arches off the bed with pleasure.

"Not–" Victor pants. "Not human. Not like this."

"That's right. You're a mer now, aren't you?" Yuuri rests kisses down to Victor's sternum, where he scrapes his teeth, peering up at Victor with his dark eyes. "Then allow me to treat you like one, too."

" _Please_ ," Victor begs.

Whatever comes next, whatever being a mer entails, _he's ready_. To please Yuuri, to find the ultimate pleasure of this form and offer the same to his husband… Victor is more than ready for it.

"There are two places on a mer's body that are most important," Yuuri tells him then. "Give me your hand."

Victor does so instantly. Yuuri guides it below his waist and rests his fingers against something slick. Something that halts Victor's breathing.

"Merfolk are neither male nor female, you see. We are both, so can be either. Here," Yuuri gently rubs Victor's fingers around the edges of the opening he can feel at the front of his tail, "is the male part. And lower, here," Yuuri moves Victor's hand down to where he's even more slick, "is the female part."

Slowly, Yuuri pushes Victor's fingers inside. Victor gasps at the strange feeling. It is so very much unlike what fingering himself in human form feels like. It's dry then, unless he's sufficiently oiled his fingers. Now, however, everything is so wet, cold, and soft. There is no warmth inside him, but the coldness and tightness are just as inviting.

Without Yuuri's prompting, Victor explores the wonders of the hole Yuuri has shown him and he shudders with the pleasure his own fingers bring him.

"Good, keep doing that," Yuuri tells him, following the dip of Victor's fingers with hungry eyes.

One of Yuuri's tentacles passes Victor's working hand and rubs gently against the hole above. The male one, Victor thinks, just as the tip of the tentacle nudges inside. The surprise makes Victor twitch again, and when he does, so does his hand. It all happens within seconds, but Victor's fingers dig deeper inside him and he cries out at the sensation. Briefly, he closes his eyes and once he opens them again, he feels something else.

There, wrapped in Yuuri's tentacle, is Victor's mer cock. It's slick, slippery, dripping with liquid that is sticky and thick like honey.

"Oh," Victor moans. And then moans again when Yuuri's tentacle tightens around it. "Y-Yuuri…"

"Does it feel good?" Yuuri asks, jerking his tentacle around him.

Victor thrusts his fingers inside himself faster, harder. It feels… Oh, it feels just _too good_ … As if he was fucked twofold, as if there were two of him and two were fucked at the same time, and he could feel both and ahh–

"Yes, yes, yes, yes," Victor babbles, fucking himself with his fingers. "Yes, Yuuri, good, please _more_ …!"

So Yuuri gives him more.

More tentacles wrap around Victor. One twists his nipple, the other one pulls the other, and yet another one slips inside Victor's hole to help his fingers reach deeper. It's enough to turn Victor's body into a mess of shivers and pleasure so brilliant that his vision turns white with it, but for Yuuri… for Yuuri that is not enough. And once Victor feels the touch of another tentacle at his lips, his greed awakens as well and he opens up to let it in.

Fucked in all the holes possible, with tentacles teasing his nipples, stroking his cock and tightening around him like bonds that bind him to his husband, the only thing Victor sees before he succumbs to his release are Yuuri's dark, glowing eyes that watch him with a need that burns under Victor's skin for long after he comes.

"Again," Victor tells him, still panting and twitching from the aftershocks.

And Yuuri does not need to be asked twice.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uwu
> 
> I'm also running a small poll on twitter about whose pov the sequel to this story should be in, so if you're interested, [pls leave a vote](https://twitter.com/katzuyas/status/1133245136761237504)?


	29. Chapter 29

 

 

Every night Victor is made love to until he feels so full with Yuuri's cum, his attention, his love that he can't move. Yuuri rests at his side then, stroking Victor's full belly, while one of his tentacles brings Victor another orgasm with its gentle caresses inside him.

Victor loves it. He loves every second of it: the slow pleasure of aftercare, the passion of the moment, the splitting of his consciousness between all the ways he's being fucked by his insatiable husband.

He loves it _beyond anything_.

But he cherishes the days they spend together just as much as he loves the nights.

Yuuri shows Victor around the kingdom. Whatever Victor thinks to see, Yuuri is ready to take him. So they spend their days swimming around, and the nights – _playing_ _around_.

And they're both deliriously happy. It's oh so clear in Yuuri's eyes. Victor can't help but kiss him whenever he spots the twinkle of it in the gaze Yuuri directs at him. Yuuri kisses him back then, and Victor kisses him harder, and–

One day, Yuuri shows him the cave below the palace where he loved playing as a child. He fucks Victor from behind there, sitting on the rock he used to build shell castles on, but now instead of castles, he builds up Victor's pleasure, bit by delicious bit. His tentacles fuck Victor until his moans echo through the waters and Yuuri's name becomes a sobbing prayer for more.

Another day they leave the busy centre of the city, swimming towards the outskirts, where Yuuri shows Victor another reef.

"I used to weave crowns from the flowers here and bring them to my mother," Yuuri tells Victor, smiling softly.

"Oh, can we do it again?" Victor asks, excited. "A present for her for allowing us to stay with them."

Yuuri only nods with a sweet smile. They sit at the reef, braiding flowers together until they form a perfect crown. Victor is so focused on his work that he doesn't notice the pure adoration with which Yuuri watches him. He only sees it when Yuuri slips a beautiful flower behind his ear and Victor looks up to smile at him with all the love in his heart.

No words are spoken between them when Yuuri rests his forehead against Victor's, smiles. Before Victor can do anything himself, speak or move, Yuuri kisses him. And once he does… Once he does, it is all over. Victor throws the unfinished flower crown behind him and jumps his husband, whose tentacles already wrap him tight enough to make him shiver with want.

They return home flushed and giddy. Hiroko must know what it means to be young, for she does not comment on their suspiciously happy behaviour. She accepts the crown with a smile and a kiss to each of their cheeks and sends them off to bed, lest they get into some trouble with their bubbly blundering.

That night, Victor goes to sleep wrapped in Yuuri, full and sweet, and happier than he ever was.

When he first set on this journey ordered by his father, he never thought he could ever be so happy. He believed all his happiness was the times he left behind, but oh… how wrong he was! Now, now Victor would never trade his place at Yuuri's side for anything. Not gold, not riches, not land or unknown pleasures. This, right here, under Yuuri's arm, leaking Yuuri's cum, is where he's happiest. And no one will ever take that away from him, Victor vows as he drops a kiss to a slumbering Yuuri's chin.

In the morning he awakens to Yuuri's tender kisses and a tentacle gently stirring his mer cock. The touch is light, but Yuuri must have started a while ago, because when Victor comes to, he's already coming in breathless silence. He trembles in Yuuri's arms, pants against his lips, and moans, moans his name with all the love he can muster.

"Good morning, beautiful," Yuuri whispers to him when Victor slumps against him, spent. "You looked so pretty I couldn't resist."

"I'm glad you didn't," Victor replies, nuzzling his sweaty forehead against Yuuri's cheek. "Waking up like this has to be my second favourite way to greet a new day."

Tender fingers brush Victor's hair behind his ear. "What's the first?"

"Waking up next to you," Victor replies.

He looks up and Yuuri looks down, and they both smile as they kiss.

They leave the palace that day as they do every other day. Instead of going outside the city, this time Yuuri takes Victor into the winding waterways. They pass houses, other merfolk, many sea creatures that serve as pets.

"That's a–" Yuuri makes a sound that reminds Victor of the chirping he first heard from his lips when they still couldn't understand each other.

"A what?" Victor asks, so Yuuri repeats, but Victor only hears the chirping again. "I can't understand you. All I hear is chirping. Why is that?"

Yuuri's frown clears. "Oh, the most likely reason would be that there is no word for it in human tongue. Here, try to repeat after me. In your mer form you should be able to say it right."

And so, Yuuri says the word again. The trill is soft, lilting up at the end. Victor tries to copy it, but with a smile Yuuri shakes his head, so he tries again. After five more tries, Yuuri chuckles and kisses his nose.

"You'll get there," he tells him, kissing him sweetly on the lips next.

The rest of the day Victor practices his chirping, much to Yuuri's amusement. He doesn't laugh at Victor with malice, no. He simply chuckles at him, _with_ him, and corrects him every time with an encouraging squeeze to Victor's fingers.

It's only when they begin their way back home, laughter on their lips, that Victor hears something else. He stops in the middle of the waterway and someone bumps into him, quickly bowing in apology before scurrying away, but Victor hardly notices. He turns left and right, struggling to pinpoint where the noise is coming from.

"What is it?" Yuuri asks, swimming up close and gazing around them as well.

"Do you hear that?" Victor asks. He frowns. "This sound… like a child crying somewhere?"

Yuuri strains his ears, too.

"There, that way!"

They leave the main waterway and take a corner between the buildings. It's there, hidden behind a stone, they find the source of the noise. Thing is... it is not a child.

"Oh no," Yuuri gasps. "Who would do something like this?"

Victor doesn't answer, too stunned at the sight. Because before them, bundled tight in fishing nets that have stuck under the stone, trashes a small seal pup. It whines and it whimpers, and trashes harder to no avail. The nets have wrapped around it tight, and no amount of trashing could help the poor creature.

Victor's heart squeezes in his chest.

He thinks of nothing else but freeing the tiny thing from its prison, so he does just that. He kneels next to the pup and gently, slowly, rips the nets apart with his claws. The seal keeps trashing, cries even louder, as if afraid of him. Victor's heart breaks at the sound, but he grits his teeth and does his best to free it with his shaking hands.

There!

The moment the pup is free of the netting, it springs out from between Victor's arms and crashes right into him. Victor thinks he's been attacked, and so must Yuuri judging by his startled cry, but when he lands on his back on the ocean floor, Victor realizes they were both wrong in their assumptions.

The pup on his chest yaps. Victor looks down at it, only to have the soft nose smooshed right into his cheek. He can't help it then. From the strain of the moment, the nerves, the silliness of this reaction… he laughs.

"You're harmless, aren't you?" he asks the pup, holding it to his chest with one arm. The pup yaps again, wiggling, and Victor grins. "Oh, and you're adorable to boot, too! How lucky we are to have found you!"

The pup yaps twice, its little body wiggling harder in obvious happiness. Victor laughs again, turning to his husband.

"Say, Yuuri, can we keep it?" he asks.

Yuuri smiles. "I don't think it belongs to anyone else, and if it does, I doubt it'd have a better home there than with us. So of course, we can keep it."

He comes to stand behind Victor and dips low to offer his hand to the pup. It wiggles out of Victor's arms and nuzzles into Yuuri's palm as if it knows it will never find a kinder place than with them.

"What should we call it?"

"Makkachin," Victor decides.

And that night when they return home, Makka sleeps between them: safe and sound, and home at last.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ayyyyy it's makka time!!! I can't believe I'm introducing best girl so late in the story yrxcyjbhnj WHAT A CRIME


	30. Chapter 30

 

 

The couple times Victor has awoken from his nightmares after Yuuri has been injured were few and far between, but one night, maybe a month into their stay at the sea kingdom, Victor gasps awake in the middle of the night. Yuuri and Makkachin sleep soundly at his side. They look calm, at peace, yet Victor's body is drenched with cold sweat. He's breathing as hard as if he ran a for days. In a valiant effort to muffle the sound of his desperate breathing he covers his mouth with a hand so as not to wake the others. He closes his eyes, trying to swallow his heart right to where it belongs – in his chest, not his throat. He tells himself it's all going to be alright, that Yuuri is well, that the wound has healed and he will live a long and happy life with Victor by his side...

The light touch on his wrist almost makes him scream.

Yuuri must have awakened when Victor did, for when Victor's eyes snap open, they meet Yuuri's gaze in the dark waters. Concerned brown peers at Victor with so much tender concern, so much understanding that he shudders against it.

"I'm good, it's nothing," Victor quickly says, but his voice shakes. He isn't fooling anyone.

Yuuri slips out of bed without jostling Makka and swims around to sit next to Victor. He says nothing at all, simply pulls Victor into his arms. For a moment there, Victor wants to insist that he doesn't need to be coddled, that he can deal with this alone, but then he realizes that he doesn't have to. That Yuuri... Yuuri is there for him, just as Victor would be there for Yuuri anytime.

Victor leans into his husband, wraps his arms around him and allows himself to breathe.

"The dream again?" Yuuri asks gently. Victor only nods. "I'm alright, Victor. The wound has healed nicely."

"I know," Victor whispers. "I know, but… I can't help it. I'm sorry."

"That's not something you should ever apologize for," Yuuri tells him. "Never, you hear? I want to be here for you, just like you have been there for me when I needed you most."

Victor can only nod again. Yuuri holds him close until Victor's breathing returns to normal, but even then he doesn't let go. They lie back down, and Yuuri holds him. He holds him while Victor's eyelids grow heavy once more, holds him when he snaps them open, too afraid of the nightmares to fall asleep. Yuuri kisses his forehead then, and holds him. And he holds him still, when Victor gives in and falls into the arms of sleep, and then he still holds him when he awakens in the morning: safe, protected, loved.

Yuuri's face is close, soft with sleep. Long minutes after he awakens, Victor spends on taking in the beauty of him like he does every single day. Today, however, he also notices the dark circles under Yuuri's eyes. It's his fault, Victor knows. He must have kept Yuuri awake with his struggling, with his nightmares, with his weakness...

Guilt hits him hard in the heart, stifles his breathing. Victor wants to slip out of Yuuri's arms carefully and allow his husband the rest he so clearly needs, but all it takes is a twitch of his hip for Yuuri's eyes to fly open.

Victor startles.

"Ah, um... good morning?"

"Where were you going?" Yuuri asks, alert despite having been asleep just moments before.

"Nowhere, I just… I just wanted to let you rest in peace," Victor admits. "You didn't get much sleep because of me, did you? I'm sorry."

A tentacle kisses Victor's lips shut. "Never apologize for something I offered willingly. We're… Victor, we're married. It's natural to worry about each other, isn't it? Do humans not do that?"

"We do, of course we do," Victor quickly assures. "I just– I'm sorry."

Yuuri gives him a small smile, which Victor returns after a moment of hesitation. They share a sweet kiss.

"There's something I want to show you today," Yuuri says once they part.

"Something I haven't seen yet?" Victor teases.

"One of the few places left, yes," Yuuri confirms. "Will you come with me?"

"Anywhere you want," Victor replies and gets a kiss for his courage.

They make it out of the palace about two hours later, but when they do the day has already began in the city. Merfolk rush around, busy with their work. The marketplace they pass by on their way is even busier than the few times Victor has seen it later in the day. Yuuri carefully meanders them between the groups of gathered mers, holding Victor's hand all the way through.

Wherever they're going must be full of people too, for they never take any of the side waterways. It comes to Victor as a surprise when they stop before a building that looks very much like the king and queen's palace up the hill of the main waterway. Yuuri leads him inside, where the space is oddly empty. Every surface here, the spiral columns, the round roof, the floors and the altar at the far end of the building are made of polished pearl, which glimmers and glows and creates rainbows on their faces where it reflects in the waters.

It's a stunning view.

Victor says so, and Yuuri smiles.

"This is the temple of the water god Aquaius," he explains, guiding Victor all the way to the altar. "He is our patron and protector, our forefather and first king."

"Your mother did mention him once or twice," Victor remembers, looking at the enormous statue of the god that has been placed at the very back of what, he now knows, is a temple. Aquaius stands there with a hard face, as if looking at all that gather before him with displeasure. "Is he a kind god?"

"Is any god kind?" Yuuri asks, then shakes his head. "He is the only one we have."

"Oh, there are kind gods," Victor tells Yuuri, bringing his hand to his lips so he can rest a kiss against his black-ink knuckles. "They listened to my prayers when you were injured and gave you back to me. I don't know who responded to my pleas, but whoever it was, I am eternally grateful to them."

Yuuri smiles at him, squeezes his hand.

"Aquaius always blesses the bonds of new couples," he says, looking back at the statue. "Since ours wasn't blessed by him directly – which couldn't be helped since it wasn't performed here – but, you know... I can't help but wonder if maybe my injury was, well... a consequence of his displeasure?"

Victor opens his mouth to argue, but before he can, Yuuri shakes his head and turns back towards him.  

"That's why we're here. To fix what we did wrong."

"I don't understand," Victor says.

Yuuri takes Victor's hand, where the bonding mark sits against his pale skin. He turns Victor's wrist towards himself and lifts it to his lips. The kiss is gentle, tender, barely a brush over the mark that under his loving touch turns liquid gold.

"I take you, Victor of the House Nikiforov, as husband, partner, lover, equal," Yuuri says. He lifts his other hand and softly marks Victor's face like he did on their bonding night with their own blood. "I take you to behold, to care for and to love, and I promise my heart, my life, my soul to always belong to you and none else. Aquaius, protect my sacred vow."

Victor looks at their hands, the glowing wrists, Yuuri's kind eyes. And he knows that he must reply with the same.

So he does.

He takes Yuuri's wrist, kisses his glowing mark, and vows what Yuuri has just promised him:

"I take you, Yuuri of the mer royalty, as husband, partner, lover, equal. I take you to behold, to care for and to love, and I promise my heart, my life, my soul to always belong to you and none else. Aquaius, protect my sacred vow."

Victor marks Yuuri's face as he speaks, and once he's done, he is the one to bring their foreheads together this time. Yuuri smiles at him, sweet and tenderly flushed. Victor realizes that his own cheeks are warm only when he touches Yuuri's the moment he pulls him into an embrace.

"Thank you," Victor says, heart full.

"Thank you, too," Yuuri says.

It sounds silly, his reply. Suddenly giddy, Victor chuckles into Yuuri's ear, and Yuuri responds with soft laughter as well.

Together, they leave the temple of Aquaius hand in hand: twice bonded and thrice as happy.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> honestly, I need me some yuuri love bc today has been a nightmare alright... who's with me?


	31. Chapter 31

 

 

"It's tradition for young mers to find their own place to live once they're bonded," Yuuri explains as they make their way back to the palace. "It's kind of my parents to allow us to stay in the tower, but… if we wish to be a true family, we need to find something we can call our own."

Victor grimaces. "As long as it's not another island…"

"You'd accept living underwater forever?" Yuuri turns to him with real curiosity in his eyes. "You'd give up sunlight and air for this?"

"For you, you mean?" Victor smiles. "Always."

Yuuri flushes delightfully, but stubbornly shakes his head.

"I don't like that you're making such a big sacrifice for me. The island… _No_ , I'm not saying we should go back," he immediately adds in a soothing voice when he spots Victor's stormy expression. "It's just that the island was the perfect compromise. It had a temperate climate, was uninhabited, had access to the sea and a river that connected with a small lake that I could live comfortably in while you stayed on the dry land."

"So you want to search for another island?" Victor asks. "That could be just as dangerous!"

"It could be, but I'd rather take that risk than ask you to give up being human for me," Yuuri says in a way that sounds final.

Victor refuses to accept that.

"I'd rather give up being human than risk your life again," he insists. "Yuuri, please. What if we look for a cave somewhere near the surface then? A compromise, if you will. I could go up whenever I missed land, and you would still be safe somewhere, where you wouldn't have to fight against any sea creatures again. How about that?"

Yuuri hums, but he says nothing else, because they enter the palace and Hiroko intercepts them for dinner. The thought of going back to the surface does not as much as stir Victor's nostalgia. He could honestly go months, years even, without missing sunlight. The life here in the peaceful city under the surface is enough for him. _Yuuri's safety_ is enough for him.

It clearly isn't for Yuuri, though.

"Mom, dad," Yuuri says once the dinner made of watergrass sprinkled with squid ink and cold prawn soup spiced with powdered root of something Victor knows no name of is all but over. In the moment, as Yuuri speaks, Victor forgets all about the remaining food on his shell plate.

"Victor and I are thinking of moving out," Yuuri announces.

"So soon?" Hiroko asks, saddened. "You've only been here a month, there's still time if you want to stay."

Victor smiles reassuringly. "We would love to–"

"–but as a young couple, we need to find our own place," Yuuri interrupts him, and Victor purses his lips in an unhappy line. "It's tradition, you understand."

"Well," Hiroko sighs, "if you feel so strongly about this, we will not try to stop you. Just so you two know, you will always have a place here with us."

She smiles at them both, kind to a fault. Later, when they part to their respective parts of the palace, Victor's heart aches as he thanks her for being so welcoming to him. She shakes her head, as if she didn't believe thanks were in order.

"You're my son now, too, Victor," she tells him, patting his cheek softly. "There is no need for thanks. In this house, love comes free of charge."

To think that Yuuri wishes to leave such a wonderful home… Victor can't comprehend it. He understands Yuuri's wish to leave, to start a family of their own, of course. He wants that as well. But he can't help but cling to a home this warm, this accepting… A home like he's never had with his own parents. It's too hard to simply let go of this, when he's spent so long yearning for it.

"You don't agree," Yuuri says that night when they lie in bed together. He isn't asking, he's stating a fact as if he knows Victor well enough by now to tell his moods.

This new level of intimacy warms Victor's heart a little, but he wishes it was under better circumstances.

"I do," Victor says. "I agree that we need to leave at one point. I just… I never had a home this loving. You know about how I grew up, I told you everything." Yuuri nods, turning to the side so that he can look at Victor as he speaks. "I'm just being sentimental, Yuuri. If you truly wish to leave, I will go with you, wherever you choose."

"That isn't what I want," Yuuri says, taking Victor's hand. "I don't want to drag you with me, when you don't want to go. I don't want you to go only because of your obligation as my husband. I simply want… I want to be with you, and only you." He pauses, then gives the tiniest of grins. "And maybe Makka, too."

The seal pup snores a little from where it sleeps at the foot of the bed. Victor can't help a smile of his own.

"I want that as well," he confesses. Then, he sighs. "So we leave then. When?"

"When do you want?"

"A week?"

"Two weeks then."

Yuuri leans closer to rest a sweet kiss on Victor's lips. Happier than he was before, since he knows Yuuri has given him more time than he asked because he also understands Victor's feelings, Victor pulls him even closer for a deeper kiss.

"Thank you," he whispers.

Yuuri only hums and kisses him again.

 

 

***

 

 

The two weeks pass faster than Victor would've thought, but such is the thing with time – it always slips through fingers whenever it's needed to last most. On the day of their departure, Victor wakes up wrapped in Yuuri's arms. They don't waste time on pleasant things. The previous night they have spent packing bags so as not to rush now, and after a brief breakfast they say their goodbyes to the family.

Hiroko hugs them both, joins their foreheads one after another.

"You always have a place here," she reminds them for the final time, and they both nod.

Toshiya nods at Victor, Victor returns the same, and that is that. Victor would like to speak to Yuuri's sister, the princess Mari, once more, but Hiroko tells them that she hates goodbyes and has left early in the morning. Yuuri shakes his head with a smile at that, tells his mother to give her a hug in their name when she gets back.

With the promise still fresh, they leave the palace. The waterways are still somewhat empty, so they quickly pass through the city, move into the tunnels of the great reef mountain, and then they are out in the vast ocean outside.

"Are you ready?" Yuuri asks when they stop there for a breath.

Despite knowing he will miss this place, Victor smiles at his husband with all the love that sings in his heart whenever he looks at him.

"I am," Victor says. "Let's go find our own waterway towards Fiddler's Green."

"Where?"

Yuuri frowns, a precious thing. Victor chuckles.

"Paradise, love," he explains.

Understanding clears Yuuri's eyes. His lips quirk in a sly smile, so sudden that Victor's heart flutters in his chest.

"Aren't we already there?" Yuuri asks, playful and sweet.

He offers Victor his hand and Victor takes it with no hesitation. Instead of just holding it, though, he pulls Yuuri towards himself and rests their foreheads together. He smiles back at his Yuuri, because he's right: they are. Here, there, everywhere. As long as they are together – they will always be right where the happiness is strongest. At the very heart of Fiddler's Green.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> can yall believe this is it? it's been a full month of this story? what even omg!!!   
> but it's not really The End. a sequel is in the works, so I'm leaving this story for now, but I promise I'll be back to tell the story of what comes after this! hopefully, you'll stick around till then? ;3c


	32. Chapter 32

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for those of you who haven't seen it yet, below is the ABSOLUTELY STUNNING art of the wedding ceremony from chapter 5, which I commissioned from the outrageously talented impatvish 😭❤️🙏 you can find pat on:
> 
> [tumblr](https://impatvish.tumblr.com/post/185198203731/just-in-time-for-mermay-the-amazing)   
>  [twitter](https://twitter.com/impatvish/status/1133326860631150592)
> 
> so make sure to give them your love!!! ❤️❤️❤️

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and with this sweet accent, this story is officially over!  
> the sequel is in the works, so please keep a weather eye out for that ^u^)b


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